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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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The Washington Nationals made an obvious and arguably overdue move Aug. 14 involving C.J. Abrams.
Abrams, one of the best hitting shortstops in MLB this season, has been one of the league's worst fielders. According to Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric, Abrams is the worst defensive shortstop in baseball (-17 OAA). By Defensive Runs Saved, Abrams’s minus-5 is better than only five other players at the infield's most demanding position.
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So it was that manager Blake Butera told reporters that Abrams, who started at shortstop for the National League in last month's All-Star Game, will be transitioning to second base.
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The Nationals' new shortstop will be Nasim Nuñez. The 25-year-old has been a below-average hitter in his first full big league season. He makes up for it with an MLB-leading 40 stolen bases and even better glovework at second base — plus-9 OAA, plus-13 DRS — than all but a handful of his peers at the position.
The move is a big one for Abrams, who was one of the prize acquisitions (along with outfielder James Wood) in the trade that sent Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres in 2022. Abrams has made the All-Star team in two of the last three seasons. He's a career .257/.317/.442 hitter and on pace for a career year at the plate.
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Abrams' 91 RBIs through Aug. 13 rank first in MLB. Despite his poor fielding, Abrams' 4.5 WAR (per Baseball Reference) already represents a career high, with six weeks left in the regular season.
Yet the move is a more significant one for Nuñez. By taking over shortstop for Abrams in the season's final weeks, he'll essentially be auditioning for a longer-term role at the position as the Nats try to emerge from their decade-long rebuild.
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Will Nuñez's defense at shortstop be enough to justify carrying his bat in the lineup?
Unfortunately for Nuñez, two of the top prospects in the organization also play shortstop. Seaver King, 23, has an .834 OPS across 44 games in his first exposure to Triple-A pitching this year. Eighteen-year-old Eli Willits was the No. 1 pick in the 2025 MLB Draft and will be knocking on the door in the years to come.
For Nuñez, it's an opportunity to seize a new role — not just in 2026, but in the seasons to come.
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