What to make of Abrams' slow start to spring

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – CJ Abrams arrived to spring training as one of, if not the, biggest storylines at the start of a new season.

How would the young shortstop respond to his disciplinary demotion that prematurely ended his 2024 campaign?

At the start of camp, all signs pointed to Abrams responding very well. He added 10 pounds of muscle, said he got even faster over the offseason and still flashed that noticeable smile while walking around the Nationals clubhouse.

“I just put it behind me,” Abrams told the media in his first public appearance since the demotion on the first day of spring training. “Things happen, and you’ve got to move forward. I’m here now, and I'm excited to get going with the team.”

As we’ve moved to the halfway point of camp, the off-field issues have been left in the past. Now the attention has turned to Abrams’ on-field performance.

Through his first six Grapefruit League games, Abrams is 3-for-19 (.158) with a run scored, double and RBI. For comparison’s sake, he only had five hits and one home run through his first six games last spring. Stats in the first half of spring training hardly hold any weight, but the Nats would like to see more production from their leadoff hitter sooner rather than later.

“CJ is fine. CJ has been good. He's working really hard,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He's out every morning taking ground balls. We really want him to stay on the ball. We know he's got some power. We want to make sure that it doesn't transpire into just him trying to hit home runs all the time. We need him to get on base for us. If he's going to lead off, he's got to be able to get on base, accept his walks. Right now, he's really trying to work on staying on the ball and work on his timing a little bit. But he's been really good. He's saying all the right things, doing all the right things. In the gym. Doing everything he needs to do to get ready for the season.”

Abrams is coming off an up-and-down 2024 season. Playing at an MVP level and selected to his first All-Star Game, he finished the first half with an .831 OPS, 21 doubles, six triples, 15 homers and 48 RBIs. But then he suffered an extended slump through most of the second half. He posted only a .586 OPS, eight doubles, five homers and 17 RBIs leading up to his demotion.

“He was having such a great year,” Martinez said. “He was hitting home runs, as we know. I think sometimes he gets caught up on just focusing on that, trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark. As I always say for him, if he gets 600 at-bats, if he hits 30 home runs, what are you going to do for the rest of your at-bats? Right? Don't give those at-bats away. So that's something that he needs to focus on.

“He can hit 40-50 doubles. I know he can. And when he does that, all of a sudden, his stolen base numbers increase, his run production increases, everything increases. So we gotta get him to understand the whole game of what he can do. I said before, the sky's the limit for him. He's an unbelievable athlete. He could do a lot of really good things. And we're going to try to get him there.”

Over these first few weeks of camp, hitters – Abrams included – are focusing more on getting their timing down. Pitchers are usually ahead of hitters early in camp as the bats try to regain their timing after the offseason.

But as we get closer to the start of the regular season, when do the Nats start emphasizing working at-bats, especially for their leadoff hitter?

“Right now, like I said, the first couple of weeks, we are just really trying to hone in on timing,” Martinez said. “But we'll have a conversation. I have stuff for him already about pitch selection, about leading off, about working counts, not being afraid to hit with two strikes. Stuff of that nature. So we'll start digging into that closer to the end of spring training. But like I said again, when he's on base, he makes things happen for us, so we gotta get him on base.”

By the end of the season, Abrams led the Nationals with 40 walks last year. (Jesse Winker had 52 with the Nats, but was traded to the Mets at the deadline.) But only 10 of Abrams’ walks came after the All-Star break.

James Wood, who debuted on July 1, finished with one fewer walk than Abrams in just over half the games played. Abrams only walked in 6.6 percent of his 602 plate appearances, while Wood walked 11.6 percent of his 336 plate appearances.

Not the rate you would want to see for your leadoff hitter.

“We talk about that with him all the time: Just accept your walks,” Martinez said. “Understand, like I said, swing decisions are key for him.”

There are 2 ½ weeks left of camp. Plenty of time for Abrams to get his timing down and approach sharpened.

But as other young Nats players start to light up the statsheet, Abrams hopefully isn’t too far behind them.