Rare History Made by Washington Nationals Youngster Is Latest Bright Spot

It’s not a surprise to many the Washington Nationals are going to miss the playoffs again.

The current state they’re in as a franchise has been self-imposed, opting to start a rebuild when they couldn’t defend their World Series title and failed to lock up Juan Soto to a massive contract extension.

That has caused the organization, and fans, to exercise patience when it comes to the future state of this franchise, something that has been difficult to do when watching the Atlanta Braves dominate the regular season and the Philadelphia Phillies make deep playoff runs after spending large sums of money.

So, with under three weeks until this campaign comes to an end, the Nationals will be sitting at home watching the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

During the offseason, Washington’s ownership group and front office will have some important decisions to make.

They can decided to speed up this process by bringing in some high-profile free agents to boost this roster, or they can continue to let things ride and see how their multiple star prospects develop at the Major League level.

One thing seems certain, though, CJ Abrams will be a building block of the future.

Acquired as a center piece of the Soto deal with the San Diego Padres, the Nationals have allowed him to mature in the MLB where many of his flaws and struggles have been on full display the past three season.

However, the 23-year-old has put together the best campaign of his career by earning his first All-Star Game selection and slashing .239/.306/.426 with 20 homers, 65 RBI and an OPS of 107 entering Thursday’s game that’s above the league average for the first time.

Abrams has certainly struggled at times, but his talent is clearly there.

And with his 420-foot blast to center field on Wednesday, the young shortstop also became only the fifth member in franchise history to record a 20/20 season.

Alfonso Soriano was the first player to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in a singular campaign with Washington back in 2006 when he actually joined the rare 40/40 club, but Abrams did this at an age that only phenom Bryce Harper had previously done in a Nationals jersey.

“That’s a heck of an accomplishment for a young player. I’m really proud of him. He’s been battling every day. To get that out of the way, maybe he can relax a little bit and finish the season up strong,” manager Dave Martinez said per Mark Zuckerman of MASN.

Much of the credit has to be given to the skipper and his staff, as they have worked with the young hitter whenever he is in a slump to help him get his swing right again.

“He’s really trying to stay behind the ball a little better, use his hands and use his legs more. That swing [Wednesday] was awesome. I told him if you had to take a picture of a swing, take the picture of that and instill it in your memory. Because that was a good swing,” Martinez added.

With 28 stolen bases on the year, Abrams is already eyeing the next step to putting his name in the Major League history books by becoming a 30/30 player at some point in his career.

Ideally for him and Washington, that comes in 2025.