CJ

Abrams

Abrams crushed a belt-high fastball 420 feet to straight away center off Max Friend for his 20th home run of the season. This was his second long ball in three games, but he only had three total in the second half before Sunday. This hasn’t been the breakout season most were hoping for from Abrams despite the improved power and 28 stolen bases.

Abrams has been scuffling quite a bit of late, batting .184 (21-for-114) with three homers and nine steals over his last 30 games. The 23-year-old has been usurped by rookie Dylan Crews as Washington’s primary leadoff specialist over the past week, and has gotten some extra time off lately in an effort to get himself back on track at the dish. He’s back in the leadoff spot on Saturday afternoon with Crews dropped to seventh in the order.

Crews hit seventh in his second big-league game Aug. 27, but he had led off every game since. CJ Abrams is back in that spot tonight. Crews has hit .216/.293/.432 in 41 plate appearances since his callup. Abrams is just 2-for-26 with one walk during the same span.

He’s 18-for-94 (.191) with three home runs, 10 RBI and seven steals in 25 games since the beginning of August. It was a month to forget for Abrams. He hit below .200 and was moved down in the lineup. Abrams has 18 home runs this year, matching his total from 2023 already. He won’t match the 47 steals he had last year as he has 27 stolen bases on the year with a month left. Abrams is hitting .244 with a .744 OPS and 62 RBI on the season.

CJ Abrams has been moved towards the bottom of Washington’s lineup for the second straight contest with Crews batting leadoff for the third straight game. The 22-year-old top prospect is batting .313 (5-for-16) with two homers and one steal in four contests since arriving in the big leagues earlier this week. He’s making an immediate five-category impact for fantasy managers and the move towards the top of Washington’s lineup is definitely a boost to his fantasy appeal.

There wasn’t much offense from either team in what was an old-school pitcher’s duel on Sunday. However, Abrams drove in a run on a single in the seventh inning, another on an infield single in the ninth, and stole his 27th base of the year. While the 23-year-old hasn’t made the leap many thought he would following his 2023 season, he has at least backed up what he did last year and proved it wasn’t a fluke.

The homer was Abrams’ 18th of the season, but he also struck out the other three times he stepped into the box. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the 23-year-old, who had a tremendous month of April, struggled in May, rebounded well in June but has struggled since the calendar flipped to July. While he has improved on his performance from 2023 in some respects, the strikeout rate has increased a little bit and we’re not seeing the stolen base total we did last year, but there remains plenty of fantasy upside here.

Abrams is back in Washington’s lineup following a three-game absence due to upper back tightness. Back issues can be notoriously tricky matters, but there’s optimism that the extra time off will allow the 23-year-old speedster to put the issue to bed. We’ll see.

Abrams told reporters after Saturday’s game that he felt good enough to pinch-run on Saturday, but ultimately how he feels after swinging a bat will determine whether or not he’s able to give it a go on Sunday. He should continue to be considered day-to-day.

Abrams told reporters that he’s working through the tightness in his upper back and isn’t too concerned about the issue at the moment. The 23-year-old burgeoning fantasy superstar was scratched from Friday’s lineup due to back spasms and could wind up sitting out the rest of the weekend for precautionary reasons to prevent the issue from getting worse. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.