Saturday\u2019s announcement<\/a> \u2014 and the Houston Astros pitching staff is still the Astros pitching staff. And it is not so much that Abrams tied the score with the ensuing three-run home run, one that lifted the Washington Nationals to a 12-11 win over Houston, nor that he matched last year\u2019s home run total (19) with the swing. It was how he felt when he swung the bat that suggests that Abrams, maybe, has matured into a brand-new baseball player, one who might not let a skid extend through the better part of the summer.<\/p>\n\u201cI was relaxed,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cI think being relaxed at the plate, being able to recognize pitches, is good. That\u2019s when I\u2019m going good. So, just stay relaxed, so I can swing at good pitches and not try to do too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nationals are in the middle of a postseason push, which more specifically means their clubhouse is in the middle of trying to prove to the front office that it\u2019s worth keeping players like Abrams around to see it through. It is unclear whether Abrams will have the chance, with the Nationals\u2019 roster overperforming and their front office thinking about the bigger picture above everything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always noise, rumors, stuff like that,\u201d Abrams told The Athletic last week. \u201cOnce again, you can\u2019t let it get to you. You can\u2019t control that. So might as well just let it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the third time in Abrams\u2019 professional career that his name has been the subject of trade rumors. To deal with those murmurs, lulls and push notifications on his phone, Abrams has turned to meditation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just kind of sit there until the feeling goes away,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cWhether that\u2019s mad, happy, it\u2019s kind of just feeling it. It\u2019s feeling it, then letting the feelings go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abrams began the practice years ago. He can\u2019t remember what spurred it, but he never felt it was important enough to become a consistent habit until his season tailed off last year. Now, he won\u2019t let a day go by without it.<\/p>\n
Those feelings, or rather their absence, have weighed him down in the past. It does not help that his eyes naturally wander to the scoreboard, and that scoreboard tends not to shield him from his results. But he is trying his darnedest to look elsewhere. To focus elsewhere. A few minutes each day, at home or the team hotel, is all he needs to re-center.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a human, you have a mind and a body, and they\u2019re connected, so it\u2019s just being able to control it as best as you can,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cIt\u2019s harder to control the mind, and especially nowadays, you see all these certain things on your phone and stuff. It can kind of get to you. But, like I said, just be able to let the feelings go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coaching staff has helped. It\u2019s been common for players to share that they feel more prepared this season. But many have also implied, or even outright shared, that the new coaching staff does not tinker unless there is a clear need. There is no need, at least at the moment, to change Abrams\u2019 swing. His breath? Sure.<\/p>\n
That can take many forms. Maybe it\u2019s a calming embrace with James Wood, who hit a 446-foot grand slam on Monday to put the game out of reach. Maybe it\u2019s their familiarity with deficits, or rather their familiarity with overcoming them, that allows Abrams\u2019 heart to steady in big moments. Or maybe it\u2019s the relationship with his first-year manager.<\/p>\n
If Abrams begins the night 0-for-2, Blake Butera said, the 25-year-old shortstop will often look over to his manager and offer something to the effect of, \u201cI know, I need to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
To which his manager will quip: \u201cYeah, what are you waiting on? The game started an hour and a half ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a lot like having fun back and forth, keeping it light, just because we both know how good of a player he is,\u201d Butera said. \u201cI think sometimes you can maybe create more of an issue (by dwelling on it) rather than like just letting them play and have some fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether that message will stick if Abrams stops hitting .274 with an .860 OPS remains to be seen. Whether Butera is even the one to deliver that message to Abrams at the end of the season remains to be seen. A light market for hitters (and the absence of meaningful extension talks) suggests that teams will come calling. For now, Abrams said, he is focused on his breath, the process and also, when he can, the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re going to be really good,\u201d Abrams said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it. We\u2019ve got to keep going, but like I said, the trading stuff and all that is going to take care of itself. I\u2019m just here to win games with the Nats right now. I think we\u2019re doing a really good job of that. We\u2019re building.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 This has not been the easiest month for CJ Abrams. But the version that strolled up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99,2331],"class_list":["post-748420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}