Infielder CJ Abrams suffered an injury in Wednesday's win and is now sidelined for the Washington Nationals ahead of Thursday's rubber match vs. Texas Ranger
After picking up a shutout win on Wednesday night behind a strong performance from Cade Cavalli, the Washington Nationals will look to split the series against the Texas Rangers. Yet they will do so without a key piece in the lineup, dealing another blow to the Nationals' offense.
Star infielder CJ Abrams was absent from the team's starting lineup on Thursday after manager Blake Butera revealed he is now battling through an injury suffered on Wednesday. Per Butera, Abrams sprained his ankle while trying to beat the tag at second base on his leadoff double in the ninth inning. Though he was able to finish the game, Abrams was reportedly limping around the dugout on Thursday with his status moving forward unclear after Butera revealed Abrams may need imaging and that he is now day-to-day.
The Nationals announced that Nasim Nunez will take the field at shortstop with Jose Tena set to take over at second base to round out the absence.
Of course, the injury news comes days after the agent of CJ Abrams revealed that the star infielder is "not thrilled" about being moved from shortstop to second base, a position switch that has yet to officially materialize despite president of baseball operations Paul Toboni joining Butera in revealing that decision following the trade deadline.
Abrams entered the series against Texas in the midst of a slump after ending the series against the Mets 0-for-10 with two strikeouts at the plate, but he's since notched doubles in both appearances against the Rangers this week. Abrams has already recorded career highs with 29 home runs and 91 RBIs while he owns a .279 batting average, .354 OBP, .530 slugging and .884 OPS which would all mark new career highs if the season ended today. His 91 RBIs also rank third across all of baseball while he joins outfielder James Wood inside the top ten across baseball.
Abrams becomes the latest notable absence with the Nationals still battling through the absence of James Wood, who Butera admitted was slowly recovering despite being eligible to come off the ten day injured list. Butera noted last week that Wood is throwing at roughly 65% intensity from 90 feet out, taking dry swings at roughly 70% intensity and swinging off a tee at roughly 60% intensity. Yet heading into the rest of August into September, when either return, if at all, will be the biggest question through the end of the 2026 regular season.
The Nationals, sitting at 61-67 overall, are set to close out the series against the Texas Rangers on Thursday night with Jacob deGrom set to throw out the first pitch set for 8:05 PM.
