Blake Butera has clear goal for Nationals star CJ Abrams in 2026

In just one day, the Washington Nationals will kick off spring training on a split-roster day with first pitch set for 1:05 PM against both the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals. How successful the Nationals can be under first-year manager Blake Butera is the biggest question with sports books teasing another potential 100 loss season after finishing close to reaching that mark in four of the last five seasons.

But one thing that is clear is that Butera is challenging one of his best players to be better with clear sight on aspirations and goals this season.

"Just watching the way he plays the games, he's one of the best players in baseball, in my opinion, has the potential to be," Butera said of shortstop CJ Abrams. "I told him a couple days ago, hey, you should be an All Star this year. And he's like, I know, that's my goal. So I think just pushing him, continue to push him."

Abrams is also classing the book on an offseason filled with gradually growing trade speculation after news broke that the Giants had made an aggressive offseason run before negotiations fizzled due to Washington's asking price. That speculation has continued into days before spring training with over 30 executives across the league pointing to Abrams as the MLB player most likely to be traded this spring.

Abrams is coming off a 2025 season where he notched at least 60 RBIs for the third consecutive season, while finishing just shy of matching his 2024 production with 19 home runs, all while hitting just shy of a career-best .257 across 144 games. Now part of the young core expected to anchor the Nationals in 2026, Butera noted the motivated Abrams looking to build on his 2025 production.

"He came into camp early. He was here before position players had to report. He seems motivated. He's got the right head on his shoulders right now. He's saying all the right things. He's doing all the right things. He's leading by example. So everything that I've seen from CJ so far, and it goes back to telling all of our players, and I mentioned to you guys as well, like, this is a clean slate, right? We want to understand these players based off how we have them the time here. And CJ has been awesome."

CJ will join the rest of the team in the first slate of games on Saturday with the Nationals set to face the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals for a 1:05 PM opening pitch.