Washington Nationals CJ Abrams has worked his way out of his slump

After slumping for a couple weeks, CJ Abrams is a force at the top of the lineup again for the Washington Nationals

A couple weeks ago, CJ Abrams was mired in one of his prolonged slumps. We have gotten all too familiar with these CJ slumps over the past couple years. They are sudden and tend to last a long time. Abrams had a two week stretch at the end of May and early into June where he went 6/47.

However, with homers each of the last two nights and his OPS back up to .835, Abrams is back. Abrams cooling off from his red hot start was inevitable in a way. While it looks like James Wood can sustain an OPS in the mid 900’s, that was always going to be tough for CJ. On May 19th, his OPS was at .942, but by June 8th, that was down to .783.

All Nationals fans wanted from CJ was to stabilize somewhere in the low to mid .800’s. Even with his subpar defense, it is hard to find shortstops with an .835 OPS. Among qualified shortstops, Abrams has the fourth highest OPS, only behind rookie sensation Jacob Wilson, Jeremy Pena and Elly De La Cruz.

So how did Abrams stop the bleeding? One thing I noticed is that Abrams is not trying to do too much. A lot of his hits lately have been singles. Only very recently has Abrams been turning up the power. Seeing that power again is a sign that he is locked in again.

However, he used the confidence he got from all those base hits to find his power groove. Focusing on contact to get out of a slump before letting the power come to you is a good new slump breaking approach Abrams has found.

Another thing all these singles have allowed Abrams to do is find his running game again. Through May, Abrams had only 9 stolen bases. A decent mark, but you expect more from a speedster like CJ. However, he has found his legs lately. In June, he has six stolen bases without being caught. For the season, Abrams has 15 swipes, while only being caught twice.

In 2023, that efficient base stealing was a massive part of his value. He had 47 steals while being caught just four times. His BsR was at an elite 9.2, which was top 3 in baseball that year. However, he got less efficient last year, only swiping 31 bags while being caught 12 times. His BsR was down to just a slightly above average 1.6.

This year that base running value is back. His BsR is already up to 3.6, which is seventh in all of baseball. It is why Abrams has already tied his career high in fWAR. Sure, the defense isn’t great, but he is an elite hitter for his position and one of the best base runners in the game. That will get you a lot of value.

However, the bat is still the biggest value generator for CJ’s game. That is why Abrams snapping out of this slump is so important. Hopefully, this can be a learning moment and a tool for Abrams to snap out of these slumps. While a single isn’t as good as a home run, it is a way on base and it can unlock Abrams base stealing as well. CJ Abrams has found his game again and long may it continue.