CJ Abrams is forcing the best shortstop debate

CJ Abrams has quietly become the best power-hitting shortstop in baseball, and he's doing it during a Nationals season that has nothing else to play for. Since the All-Star break, Abrams has racked up 7 home runs and 15 RBIs in just 9 games, an absurd pace that's turned a rebuilding club's summer into appointment viewing for one guy alone.

Barstool Baseball

@StoolBaseball

How many shortstops are better than CJ Abrams?

That clip lines up with what's actually happening on the field. Abrams broke Ian Desmond's franchise record for home runs in a season by a Nationals shortstop, going deep for his 26th and 27th of the year in the same game against Arizona. He now leads all qualified shortstops in the majors in homers, RBIs, slugging percentage and weighted runs created plus — not just Washington's shortstops, everyone's.

The individual number that's really got people talking, though, is the second-half surge itself. Reports have Abrams leading all of MLB, every position included, in OPS and home runs since the break. He's outhomered entire teams by himself over that stretch. When a middle infielder starts putting up numbers usually reserved for corner sluggers, the conversation shifts fast from 'is he good' to 'is he the best at his position, period.'

Barstool Gambling

@stoolgambling

CJ ABRAMS 7 HRS IN 7 GAMES

It's worth remembering where Abrams came from to get here. He was the centerpiece return in the Juan Soto trade back in 2022, the kind of prospect a franchise builds a rebuild around and hopes doesn't turn into a cautionary tale. Three years later, he's the one doing the trading-partner-vindicating instead of the other way around, and the Nationals finally have a foundational everyday star to point to.

None of this fixes Washington's standings problem, but it does complicate the shortstop pecking order that usually starts and ends with names like Bobby Witt Jr. and Elly De La Cruz. Abrams doesn't have the stolen bases or the highlight-reel defense those guys get credit for, but pure offensive production is pure offensive production, and right now nobody at the position is doing more of it than he is.