pulled his hitting coaches aside<\/a> and told them not to mess with rookie sensation Mois\u00e9s Ballesteros? The same logic applies here.<\/p>\nTeams that employ shortstops who have an OPS over .900 usually encourage those players to stick with their routine. The Nationals haven\u2019t tweaked Abrams\u2019 routine so much as they have established a better line of communication with him, and given him more tools to work with like the Trajekt pitching machine.<\/p>\n
Consider the alternative. Teaching Abrams a new position could alter his plans and take his focus away from the bat. There\u2019s a lot to learn at a new position, from reads off the bat to positioning on relay throws to his own throws. Asking him to focus less on his offense and significantly alter his pre-game preparation is a risk the offense can\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n
Equally important is what that ask might do to his confidence. Abrams has an amenable personality, but there is pride and money associated with playing shortstop in the major leagues. Moving him off of that position risks creating a rift. If the door to sign an extension is open at all \u2014 and at the moment, there\u2019s no reason to believe it\u2019s totally latched shut \u2014 why take that risk?<\/p>\n
The numbers might disagree, but the eye test says he can figure this out<\/p>\n
During pregame drills before Saturday\u2019s game in Miami, the Nationals put both Nu\u00f1ez and Abrams at shortstop. Though it wasn\u2019t the intention, the back-to-back reps invited comparison. Nu\u00f1ez looked like a natural as he delivered zippy, accurate throws to first base on the run. Abrams seemed as though he was still figuring out what his body could do.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because he was. Abrams is not limited by athleticism, as some other middle infielders disliked by advanced metrics are. Instead, the Nationals have asked Abrams to change his mindset and mechanics.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, third base coach Victor Est\u00e9vez said the best infielders in MLB attack the baseball at aggressive, direct angles and make smooth throws on the run. The idea is for Abrams to be more aggressive and learn the mechanics required to throw on the run. Waiting for the ball leads to cluttered mechanics and cluttered minds.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what Abrams is dealing with right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I use one hand to get the ball, I\u2019m using my athleticism,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m not, I can kind of get away from my body. My arm gets long. So it\u2019s kind of about staying compact.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019re also working on his hand positioning. Take his error last Saturday, for instance: The ball tailed out of his hand like a sinker and pulled first baseman Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. off the bag. The Nats want him to get his hand on top of the ball so it moves more straight, like a four-seamer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been working his ass off,\u201d Est\u00e9vez said. \u201cIt\u2019s only a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the instruction has already clicked. Abrams\u2019 first step and reaction time have improved. He\u2019s become more focused in the field, manager Blake Butera said. Throwing on the run, getting on top of the ball and being more aggressive are skills that take time to develop.<\/p>\n
Given how the clock is ticking, it\u2019s at least plausible that the Nationals may start to push him harder during early work before games. They have poured too much time, thought and effort into his defensive development to give up now.<\/p>\n
They can take time that other organizations do not have<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Butera brought his team out more than five hours before first pitch at Great American Ballpark and told them how he felt. Their pitchers get fewer strikeouts than other clubs, and their defense commits more errors than any other team in MLB. That is a losing combination.<\/p>\n
With how many runs they\u2019ve scored and how effectively they run the bases, the team is too fast to be this bad defensively.<\/p>\n
Butera said he needs the team to stop worrying about mistakes and to start playing free. He needs their athleticism to take over. He needs them to keep buying into this early work, even if the results haven\u2019t taken hold yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust continue to hammer the vitamins, as we call it, the stuff we do every day,\u201d Abrams said.<\/p>\n
Though they are prioritizing the future, the Nationals still care about competing this season. It\u2019s why they\u2019re promoting and demoting players so aggressively. And why they\u2019re spending more time game planning and in pregame work. And why the clubhouse is so quiet after losses.<\/p>\n
Almost anyone would tell you that, in a vacuum, Nu\u00f1ez can play a better shortstop than Abrams right now. It would be fair to argue that Abrams\u2019 play at shortstop contributed significantly to a loss as recently as last weekend. But there\u2019s always more to the decision than meets the eye.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Abrams will keep getting penciled in at short.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 The Washington Nationals understand the situation as well as any of us do. CJ Abrams is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85,5264],"class_list":["post-671308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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