Apr 2, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams (5) hits a fly ball against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Rogers Centre. Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Nationals Slugger Quickly Climbing Franchise Leaderboard in Key Statistic

Originally posted on Washington Nationals on SI
By Matt Postins | Last updated Apr 5, 2025 7:00 PM ET

If the Washington Nationals are going to turn things around, they’ll need contributions from several of their key young players.

CJ Abrams is among those players. The shortstop is a veteran with more than two years of Major League Baseball service time, but at 24 years old he still feels like a youngster. He has already been to an All-Star Game. He’s climbing the ladder of the top young players in the game. At the same time, he’s clearing a path toward records within the organization.

He’s emerged as the Nats’ leadoff hitter since he joined the franchise in 2022 as part of the Juan Soto trade. On Friday, he did what he tends to do at the top of the order — give the Nationals a jolt.

In the bottom of the first he faced Arizona Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt and slammed a home run to right field to lead off the batting order.

In doing so, Abrams moved into a tie for third place in franchise history for hitters with the most lead-off home runs, tying Lane Thomas with eight. That’s according to Nationals Communication’s social media feed.

god forbid an alien catch a vibe pic.twitter.com/7HIb8Vw64A
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 4, 2025

Context is important. Turner, who is the leader, played seven years for the Nationals. Soriano, who is second, played just one season for Washington in 2006 and slammed 46 home runs. Thomas, who was traded last season, was with the franchise for four years.

Abrams is entering his third full season with the Nationals and has played in 340 games with the organization. He’s also hit just 41 home runs in his Nats career. So, his percentage of leadoff home runs to overall home runs with Washington is nearly identical to Soriano, though he did it in one season.

But it’s one of the many reasons the Nationals have given Abrams plenty of room to develop and emerge as a leader in their clubhouse and on the field.

Entering Saturday’s game he was slashing .310/.333/.690 with three home runs and five RBI, along with two stolen bases.

He reached his first All-Star Game last season and finished the campaign slashing .246/.314/.433 with a career-high 20 home runs and 65 RBI.

The San Diego Padres selected him as their first-round pick (No. 6 overall) in the 2019 MLB draft out of Alpharetta, Ga. The Padres called him up in 2022 to make his MLB debut before including him in the package of players for Soto. That package included teammates MacKenzie Gore and James Wood.

This article first appeared on Washington Nationals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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