Less than a month after he was the starting shortstop for the National League at the MLB All-Star Game, C.J. Abrams is no longer a shortstop.
The Washington Nationals made the decision to swap Abrams and second baseman Nasim Nuñez for the remainder of the 2026 season. Manager Blake Butera told reporters Friday, Aug. 14 that the team wanted to give Abrams more time at shortstop, but that moving him to second and Nuñez to shortstop gives them a better chance to win.
Abrams, 25, has been one of the NL’s best hitters amid a surprising season in D.C. Through Aug. 13, he’s slashing .284/.357/.541 with 29 home runs and a major league-best 91 RBIs.
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An All-Star for the second time in the last three seasons, Abrams wasn’t voted to start on the strength of his glove.
According to Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric, Abrams is the worst defensive shortstop in baseball (-17 OAA). By Defensive Runs Saved, Abrams’s -5 is better than only five other shortstops this season.
Nuñez, 25, has been a below-average hitter by every metric. But he’s made up for it with an MLB-leading 40 stolen bases and better glovework at second base (+9 OAA, +13 DRS) than all but a handful of big league regulars at the position.
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The Nationals (60-63) begin a three-game NL East series against the New York Mets (53-69) later Friday.
The position switch is as much an endorsement of the Nationals’ belief in Nuñez as it is about Abrams. Shortstop is the most challenging defensive position on the infield. Most hitters bat right-handed, and they tend to pull the ball with more power to the left side.
Nuñez, a former second-round pick by the Miami Marlins who joined the Nats in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, is slashing .230/.315/.267 with only eight extra-base hits in 400 plate appearances. But if he can hold his own at shortstop, he might earn a chance to be a longer-term fixture at the position as the team emerges from its decade-long rebuild.
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