Greatness is a process. CJ Abrams is embracing that on-and-off the field. Wakeup calls resonate in many different forms. Abrams answered the call. A source told us that Abrams did not go close to a casino during the offseason. His family took a more active role, and he spent most of his offseason in Georgia before heading to Spring Training early. He had a long conversation in December with manager Dave Martinez that cleared the air and set expectations. But our source told us that Abrams had already gone well beyond Martinez’s expectations with his own list. A family friend messaged us during the offseason, “He’s doing great! Ready for the season!”
As we know, Abrams stopped posting publicly on social media. His agency posted on his account on October 7, and that was the last image on Abrams’ accounts. There was work to do personally and professionally. Social media posting wasn’t going to make anything better, but it could have sent the wrong message at the time. There was also a misconception from a Winter Meetings’ quote from Martinez that some construed that Abrams might have been dodging calls from his boss. That was not the case our source assured us. Martinez had a chance to clarify that they talked after the Winter Meetings, and that he sent hitting coach Darnell Coles to Georgia to see Abrams.
“… Look, I spoke to CJ right after the Winter Meetings. We talked for a while. … I talked to him a lot about what he means to me personally. … So we’re excited that he’s in a good place and looks great. He showed up early [for Spring Training]. I’m going to follow his lead, and like I said, he’s excited to be here — and ready to get going.”
— Martinez said yesterday in his media session to open Spring Training camp. Note: Quotes have been pieced together to add clarity.
“… CJ, the person, he’s a great kid. He is. He loves to be here. He loves his teammates. What he did in the past is the past. Moving forward. He wants to come out here and play baseball and be the best shortstop he could possibly be. So I’m excited for him. We know what he can do on the field. So we’re looking forward to keeping him healthy, and getting him out there and letting him play shortstop every day.”
“He’s moving well. I watched him field ground balls today.”
Yes, the parts about being the “best shortstop” and “moving well” and “field ground balls.” Defense. Abrams made a whole lot of improvements over the winter and defense was a key. That was on his list and also on Martinez’s list. What did Abrams do about it? He called in an infield consultant, Nate Trosky. Instead of traveling to Trosky, he brought Trosky to his hometown in Georgia for intensive infield drills and work on improving his shortstop defense.
“CJ was locked in and hungry for our defense workouts. He’s on a mission to have a great season both offensively and defensively.”
— Trosky told us
Let’s be real here, Abrams defense was terrible in 2024. Ranked as the worst defender in MLB with as -17 OAA mark can be seen in the rankings that StatCast objectively measures. Abrams put up the opposite of defensive runs saved (DRS) because he cost his team 13-runs with his poor defense. That changes games, and certainly affected his pitchers in runs squandered and extra pitches expended.
The question is, why did Abrams’ defense decline from 2023 when he was a -9.0 OAA fielder? We don’t know the answer to that. It just was not good during the entirety of the 2024 season sans a few Web Gems. All Abrams knew was that he had to fix his defense and Trosky had worked with improving other middle infielders with their defense. Abrams is also trying out other Rawlings fielding gloves with different sizes and webbing. And Abrams also had work to do to fix his offense that went from very good to very bad from spring to summer.
Revisiting Abrams’ 2024 season, on July 7, he was named an All-Star. His slash line was All-Star worthy as he was batting .282, a .353 OBP, and a tremendous .860 OPS. It went downhill in Abrams’ season from that point to his Sept. 21 demotion. In fact, his final 56-games of the 2024 season was a sub-Mendoza .191 batting average with a .575 OPS, and some chases out of the zone that were problematic and troubling as the chases weren’t inches out of the zone but measured by feet in some extreme situations. From after July 7 to the end of the season, Abrams was the 6th worst rated MLB player in terms of WAR at -0.4 in that timeframe.
Abrams hit a home run pitched at shoulder height that was applauded — but why was he swinging at that junk? Just because something worked once — doesn’t justify making it a good habit based on process. One positive result doesn’t offset dozens of poor results.
Along with working on his defense, Abrams worked on swinging at pitches in the zone. What might shock you is that Abrams actually improved his O-Swing% annually. That stat measures his swings outside the zone. He improved from 40.2 percent in 2022 to 35.5 percent in 2023 to 34.2 percent last year. The issue is that Abrams was at 42.4 percent in O-Swing% during his slump after vast improvements in the first half of 2024.
“We sent Darnell to spend a day with him, and then he did that. He came back and gave me great reports on what he was doing and that he was [doing] all the right things. Oh, Darnell said he looks great. He sent me videos of him hitting and his workouts. And he looked like he was engaged and ready to go. So it was important that he had a good off-season and come spring training ready.”
— Martinez said yesterday in his media session to open Spring Training camp. Note: Quotes have been pieced together to add clarity.
“We got down to [Spring Training], we were engaged in conversations, and he’s in a good place. You know, I’m looking forward, like I said, looking forward to our everyday conversations with him.”
“He looks, he looks really good. He put on good muscle weight. So he looks good. He wanted to get a little bit stronger. He did that. So he looks good.”
Be the best you can be in all aspects of your life. For athletes, their careers are measured like dog years. Abrams was reportedly offered a contract extension by the Nats last year and turned it down. The numbers never leaked. He bet on himself and was headed towards an MVP-quality season until July 7 then his stats spun out of control.
Only Abrams knows when his personal issues got in the way. He, and the team, have put that behind them, and are looking forward. Lessons learned after the Sept. 21 demotion.
“I just put it behind me. Things happen, and you’ve got to move forward. I’m here now.”
— Abrams said during his media session yesterday
“It took some time [to process the demotion]. I just went home, put the work in, and I got better.”
“I feel like that’s the case with anything — it’s the way you perceive things. I’m going to do the best I can to be the best I can, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
The fact that Abrams agreed to have a media session on Day 1 of camp showed his maturity, and he handled it well. There was no apology needed in this media session, and he got his point across that he knows he made mistakes and is now better. Bumpy roads often lead to beautiful places.
