There is no doubt that a team is only as good as the individuals who are on the field of play. The best teams don’t always win championships, and “If you don’t know the history of the game — you’ll forget how many great teams didn’t win championships.” That was a quote from LeBron James. Team chemistry, luck, clutch gene, and on and on are reasons when the ball just doesn’t bounce your way. A game of inches. The Toronto Blue Jays were inches from a championship last year — just inches.
While we debate championship teams, you set yourself up by making the right moves to get there. The Washington Nationals want to be in that championship conversation again. The ME is CJ Abrams. The TEAM is the Washington Nationals. They want him. But they also believe, like most, that he needs a new defensive position and shift him from shortstop to second base. And by all accounts, CJ is on board with making the move to the other side of second base. Plenty of shortstops have had a similar positional move. This is nothing new.
Per Statcast OAA, Abrams is the worst fielding shortstop by a wide margin. The OAA stat is cumulative, and needs to go through some extrapolation. Of the 75 shortstops with varying innings because it includes backups, like Nasim Nuñez, Abrams ranks dead last at a -17.0 OAA. Again, the number does need context based on total chances which OAA does not readily provide. Still, that number is worse than last year for Abrams. His 19 errors in 2026 are the most among all players.
One of the points to debate is that Nuñez has struggled himself at shortstop defensively, and that is a fact. He has a -3.0 OAA. The team just believes that with enough reps, Nuñez will improve. That is to be seen.
This all seems to be an opportunity to get the shortstop, heir apparent, Eli Willits the bridge in time to take over the position in possibly 2028. There is also Seaver King at Triple-A and Devin Fitz-Gerald in Double-A who are technically closer to MLB than Willits in terms of the hierarchy of levels.
One of those aforementioned players could take over sooner, technically, but the thinking is the №4 prospect in all of baseball has the full game to stick at the position. Willits is currently in High-A Wilmington at the unripened age of 18.
In fact, Willits pro debut was less than a year ago on August 21, 2025 when he went 3-for-4 and started at shortstop. Willits has stated his goal of making his MLB debut when he is 20 years old, and that would be the 2028 season.
“I set a goal to be in the big leagues by the time I’m 20, and that’s something I’m really excited to do. Hopefully, I get out there and start playing well, and that can be something that I can accomplish in the next few years.”
— Willits said after he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2025
Alongside Willits at High-A Wilmington, is another shortstop, Ronny Cruz, who has been getting limited time at shortstop with Willits on the roster. If we look at Single-A Fredericksburg, the team has Coy James at shortstop, and Gavin Fien and Luke Dickerson (promoted last week to High-A Wilmington) were already assigned to other positions when Willits was at that level. Below Single-A in the FCL is Marconi German. And the team drafted Chris Hacopian in the first round this year, and the former college shortstop at the University of Maryland has already been told he will play second base.
Every player knows they don’t own the position on the diamond. The team owns that real estate. Team over self tells you that. While Abrams clearly wasn’t happy when he received the news about the position switch, this will be a new opportunity for him. Marcus Semien went from a struggling shortstop to a Gold Glove second baseman. It can happen.
“Ultimately, this is a decision that Paul [Toboni], Ani [Kilambi] and myself decided to make, and CJ was on board with it, which makes it easier to kind of lay it all out for him.”
— Nats’ manager Blake Butera said about the move
“Obviously, CJ spent the majority of his career at shortstop and all of his time for the Nationals there. So I understand this is not an easy decision, not an easy conversation, of course. But ultimately, we felt like this was the best thing for the team going forward.”
“I think if CJ plays a good second base and Nasim Nuñez plays a great shortstop, I think we’re a better team.”
“We’re thinking about all those things, we are, but ultimately right now, what we’re trying to do is do what’s best for this team and this organization to win as many games as possible the rest of this year, and also set ourselves up for next year. But we’re taking all those things into account when we’re making decisions like this.”
On the other side, Abrams was bombarded with questions by the media about the move. His public comments of course felt like he was disappointed with the decision. But disappointment should not be confused with not being a team player which is how we see this with Abrams being a team-first player.
When you spend your entire career at a key position, and get voted by the fans to the All-Star starter at that position, this is much more than an ego hit — this will take time to process. That is normal. Abrams has accepted the move with his bosses. And a key point is that Abrams is not inserting himself as a ‘me first’ player. As Butera said, “CJ was on board with it.”
“Not too many thoughts [about the position change]. I stay present, for real.”
— Abrams said to the media about the position move
“Just go over there and be athletic. There’s a shorter throw, it’s pretty much the only difference. You have different pivots you have to do at second base. But other than that, it’s still the [middle] infield.”
“That’s just where I’ve been playing my whole life, and I believe I can be a great shortstop.”
With all of that, Butera said that Abrams will move over to second base soon, and will still play some games at shortstop. But his primary position moving forward is second base. Abrams is under team-control through the 2028 season. By that point in time, who knows what the roster will look like. Hacopian, 22 in two weeks, should be a fast mover up in the system. King, 23, and even Phillip Glasser look ready for their MLB debuts. There is a logjam forming. That’s a good problem to have for President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, and his staff.
You always find a spot for the best players. We saw that 10 years ago in D.C., when Trea Turner had to play center field until shortstop opened up for him. And speaking of Turner, he struggled defensively as a shortstop, but there was no player who was better to take the position from him. Nobody thinks that Nuñez is the long-term answer because of his struggling bat. This is why King could be the next man up.
Toboni’s job is to have a future depth chart for all of his players, and with Abrams moved to second base, the team will look to other positions to see if players like Abimelec Ortiz can stick at first base, Brady House at third base, and yes, Dylan Crews at right field.
The situation with James Wood playing the outfield, is less about his issues on his lateral movement on balls in the air, and more about self-preservation of his body from all of the sprints, bumping into walls, and dives into the turf. With the universal DH, the team could, and probably should, just for that self-preservation, pencil in Wood even more in 2027 at the DH with less time in the outfield.
Let’s fast-forward to the year 2028. What could the depth chart look like?
Catcher: Keibert Ruiz SH, Harry Ford RH, Drew Millas SH, Max Romero LH, Caleb Lomavita RH, Kevin Bazzell RH
First Base: Abimelec Ortiz LH, Yohandy Morales RH, Ethan Petry RH, Andres Chaparro RH, Gavin Fien RH
Second Base: CJ Abrams LH, Seaver King RH, Chris Hacopian RH, Devin Fitz-Gerald SH
Shortstop: Nasim Nuñez SH, Seaver King RH, Devin Fitz-Gerald SH, Eli Willits SH
Third Base: Brady House RH, Phillip Glasser LH, Cayden Wallace RH, Trey Lipscomb RH, Seaver King RH, Chris Hacopian RH, Luke Dickerson RH
Left Field: Daylen Lile LH, James Wood LH, Andrew Pinckney RH
Center field: Jacob Young RH, Dylan Crews RH, Sam Petersen RH, _______ LH
Right field: Dylan Crews RH, Daylen Lile LH
DH: James Wood LH, Andres Chaparro RH
If there is a deficiency in the depth chart, it is in left-handed outfielders and another infielder who can bat left-handed. Take a look at the newest MLB Pipeline ranking for an idea of the top prospects shoving towards the MLB level.
This offseason will be about personal improvement. The team has to see that with Nuñez as well as Crews. This will be an interesting chart to refer back to in the future.
What ideas do you have?
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