Washington Nationals Shortstop Finding Power Stroke in Breakout Campaign

The Washington Nationals may not fully be out of their rebuild, but don't tell them that. They are riding high after a weekend sweep of the rival Baltimore Orioles, bringing their record for the year up to 21-27, just 3 1/2 games back of the Atlanta Braves for third in the National League East.

The young offensive core that the Nationals have built through strong drafts and selling Major League talent at the right time is finally starting to come together, for the most part. With James Wood making a major name for himself in left field, he has clearly become the leader of the team.

Wood is not the only member of the young core to bring an immense amount of power to the table this year, however. Another young stud, shortstop CJ Abrams, is now in his fourth year at the Major League level and has tapped into power never seen from him before.

Washington Nationals Shortstop CJ Abrams Bringing More Power Than Ever

Abrams started to show more of a power stroke in 2024, his best year at the top level of the sport to date. But even with that increase, this year's is on another level.

Entering 2025, Abrams carried a career .246/.302/.402 line with 40 home runs, 150 RBI and a 97 OPS+ across 1,518 plate appearances in 379 games. 20 of those home runs came in 2024 alone, and the shortstop has eight already this year after hitting two in Sunday's series finale against the Orioles.

A big part of his success comes from the change in his batted ball profile. The 5.1% home run rate Abrams carries this year is thanks to a career-high hard hit rate (46.4%), career-high average exit velocity (90.7 MPH), more line drives than ever before (29.5%) and fewer groundballs (34.8%). You add all of that together, and even with the injured list stint earlier in the year, the shortstop is currently on a 27 home run pace.

Abrams has quietly been the best part of the lineup in Washington this year, with a .312/.368/.574 line to go with the eight home runs, as well as 18 RBI and a 164 OPS+ across 156 plate appearances in 35 games. If the shortstop can keep this up, they will need to make room at the top of the list for the best players currently manning the position in MLB.