The Nationals are going nowhere this year, but CJ Abrams didn't get the memo. Since the All-Star break, the 25-year-old shortstop has been the most dangerous bat in baseball, full stop, turning a lost Washington season into appointment viewing every time he steps in the box.
Codify flagged the number that's hardest to believe: Abrams currently leads the entire majors in RBIs.
Leading MLB in RBIs as a leadoff-type shortstop on a rebuilding club isn't supposed to happen, but that's exactly where Abrams sits right now. He's not just compiling counting stats either — the underlying performance backs it up, with Abrams hitting well over.400 with 5 homers in his last 6 games and running a July OPS north of 1.000, according to research on his recent surge.
Jeff Passan put the full scope of it in perspective, and the number is absurd on its face.
Passan broke down just how dominant Abrams has been in the second half, homer for homer against entire rosters.
Passan's stat line says it all: a 1.632 OPS, 7 homers and 15 RBIs since the break, meaning Abrams has personally out-homered the Blue Jays, Orioles, Mariners, Twins, White Sox, Cardinals and Angels as complete teams over that stretch. That's not a hot week, that's a guy operating on a different planet than everyone else in the sport for a month straight.
There's real context behind why this matters beyond fantasy leagues and prop bets. Abrams and the Nationals tried to work out a long-term extension back in 2024 and couldn't get it done, and he's playing this season on a one-year, $4.2 million arbitration deal — not exactly a lock to stay in Washington. A rebuilding front office watching its best player morph into the hottest hitter alive right before a trade deadline is either the best problem in baseball or the worst timing imaginable, depending on which way the front office leans.
Either way, book the props while they're still cheap. Whether Washington ends up extending him, shopping him, or just riding this out for the rest of the summer, Abrams has made himself the center of every Nationals conversation — which is a wild sentence for a team that's barely relevant otherwise.