PHILADELPHIA — The Nationals will need to get their offense going in Sunday’s finale against the Phillies. They were outscored 21-6 and defeated 37-21 in the first three games of this four-game series.
As has been the case for most of this season, the offense is running according to CJ Abrams’ rules. And right now, the young shortstop is having problems at the plate.
“He’s been in a bit of a slump as far as hitting goes,” manager Davey Martinez said of Abrams during his pregame press conference. “I really think he’s trying to do too much, I really do. So we need to calm him down a little bit. And like I said, he’s really good when he’s another guy that stays left-center and right-center and doesn’t try to do too much.”
Since participating in his first All-Star Game, Abrams has a batting average of .165/.234/.268 with a .502 OPS, 12 runs, four doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs, seven stolen bases, five walks and 22 strikeouts. He entered the break with a .268 average. He enters today with a .246 average.
Abrams also hits 20.6 percent of the time in the second half.
“I really think he needs to start seeing a little bit more throws,” Martinez said. “He’s very aggressive, as we all know. And I don’t mind him being aggressive, but he needs to get the ball in the zone. He really chases a lot of throws outside the zone. I hate sending him away (from the leadoff spot). I know I sent him to second base sometimes, but I want to keep him up there. He’s been successful up there. And like I always say, he’s the guy that moves us forward. But he really needs to start getting the ball in the zone. When he does that, he hits the ball hard.”
Abrams has a 35.7 percent chase rate this year, the highest since his rookie season, and is in the ninth percentile in terms of ability to block shots outside the zone. His whiff rate has also increased to 24.9 percent and his percentage of contact in the zone has dropped to 81.1.
“It’s hard to say,” Martinez said of why Abrams’ chase rate has increased over the course of the season. “Sometimes young players start chasing hits instead of understanding how to get in a good position to hit. I think he’s going through that right now. He’s not getting a lot of hits. He’s trying to chase hits, get hits. I know he’s laid out a line out a couple times and it didn’t do anything. But to me, those should get you going. Understand what you did in that at-bat to lay out a line out like that. So he’s got to start understanding, hey, they have a defense too. Sometimes you can’t control where you hit the ball. You just want to give yourself a chance to hit the ball hard. That’s what he’s got to understand.”
Earlier in this series, Martinez had floated the idea of giving Abrams a day off today. But with the Nats now on a four-game losing streak and needing a win to avoid a four-game sweep, the captain decided to keep one of his best players on the roster with an off day already scheduled for tomorrow.
“We want to win today, so I just want to keep him on the field,” Martinez said. “And I don’t want him to start worrying too much. If I give him a day off today, he’ll have two days off. I want him to go out there and play and figure some things out.”
Abrams hasn’t had a hit since his three-hit night in Baltimore on Tuesday. The day off can wait until tomorrow. He has to try to lead his team to victory today.
“He’ll get one tomorrow,” Martinez said. “We want to try to go 1-0 today. With him in the lineup, I feel like he could boost the offense.”
