If first impressions mean anything, new Rochester Red Wings shortstop CJ Abrams seems pretty comfortable with his role in one of the biggest MLB trade deadline deals in history.
“That’s all I know, the Padres, because they drafted me,” Abrams said Tuesday night before he played his first game at Frontier Field. “I had a good development there and now I’ll take it over here and keep going. It’s a great opportunity. I’m excited to get going and have fun with it.”
Abrams is considered by some as the key player who was acquired by the Washington Nationals in the blockbuster trade that sent superstar outfielder Juan Soto and first baseman Josh Bell to San Diego last week for five up-and-coming players and first baseman Luke Voit.
Pitcher MacKenzie Gore, who made his MLB debut this season and was a regular in San Diego’s rotation, is a key piece because once he comes off the injured list he figures to immediately slot into Washington’s rotation.
But among the other highly-regarded prospects including Abrams, outfielders Robert Hassell III and James Wood, and pitcher Jarlin Susana, Abrams will be the next player to go to Washington.
Like Gore, the 21-year-old Abrams made his MLB debut this year, but he struggled to hit, putting up a slash line of .232/.285/.320 with only four walks compared to 27 strikeouts in 139 plate appearances across 46 games.
He joined the Red Wings Thursday in Columbus and played all three weekend games and went 3-for-11 with two doubles, although he also made two fielding errors. In his first two games at Frontier, Abrams went hitless in four at bats Tuesday, then went 2-for-5 Wednesday and scored a run, although Rochester lost both games to see its losing streak reach 19 games.
“Very athletic kid, he’s tall and lean,” said Wings manager Matt LeCroy. “I love his swing; he’s got a line drive type swing, short, compact, ability to hit the ball in the gaps.
“He’s made some really outstanding plays at short, but he’s a young kid. He still needs to work and clean up some things on some fundamentals that young kids tend to make mistakes on; things that he’s going to need to be locked in on before he goes to the big leagues.”
That’s the part of managing in Triple-A LeCroy loves best, though, when he gets an obviously talented player who he can help take those final steps on his journey to the major leagues, and for that player to stay there.
“I don’t know the history of how he progressed (in the Padres organization), but I do see signs where there’s things that he needs to clean up before he does go back,” LeCroy said. “But that’s the good thing, that’s why we have jobs, that’s what we’re here to do and we’re really happy that he’s here with us.
“We gave away our best player (Soto) and CJ’s got to be the biggest piece in that trade. Shortstops are hard to find and he sure does look the part.”
How Washington Nationals see CJ Abrams fitting in
LeCroy has already sent Luis Garcia to the Nationals this season, and unlike 2021 when Garcia went up but then came back down, the shortstop is having a fine year and has become a regular starter.
However, Garcia does not project to be a long-term answer at shortstop and Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters over the weekend that when Abrams is ready to come up, he’ll likely play short and push Garcia to second.
“He’s already been over there taking ground balls (at second) just in case we do bring Abrams up here,” Martinez said of García. “And all of our infielders have actually been taking ground balls throughout the infield now, so it’s kind of nice. I want them to move around and just get used to taking ground balls in different positions.”
García, who is hitting .290 but has an on-base of just .295 because he has walked just twice in 228 plate appearances, has made 11 errors in 55 games at short.
Abrams, who had only two errors in 32 games for the Padres, was cited by Baseball America as the “best defensive infielder” (2021-22) and “best athlete” (2020-22) in San Diego’s minor league system.
The native of Roswell, Georgia, who was San Diego’s first-round draft pick in 2019 (No. 6 overall), said that he really didn’t hear his name raised in the trade talks for Soto. But when it happened, he thanked the Padres for the opportunity they gave him, packed his bags and moved on to the next challenge
“There’s always gonna be rumours, you never know, but everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I just go by the present day and keep going, just keep playing and doing my thing out there. You always got to learn from everything you do.”
Wings losing streak reaches 19
Once again, the Wings blew another game in the late innings Wednesday and fell 9-8 to Norfolk that extended their losing streak to 19 games.
This one was yet another dagger through the heart of a team that is enduring a stretch of losing that is exceedingly uncommon.
The Wings fell into an immediate 3-0 hole in the top of the first when starting pitcher Joan Adon got the first two outs, only to give up a walk and three straight singles. But in the bottom half, Rochester erupted for five runs as Abrams got it started with a single, and eventually David Dahl had a two-run single, John Nogowski had an RBI single which started him on a 5-for-5 night, and three straight walks forced in two runs.
The Tides regained a 6-5 lead in the fourth, all the runs charged to Adon, and then stretched the lead to 8-5 on a two-run single by Kyle Stowers in the seventh, but again the Wings rallied. In the bottom half, Nogowski singled with two outs and Jake Alu crushed a two-run homer.
Then in the eighth, Andrew Stevenson led off with a solo homer which electrified the crowd of 6,892. However, a heartbreaking ninth followed when Matt Cronin walked leadoff man Gunnar Henderson, and Reed Garrett relieved and promptly gave up singles to Jordan Westburg and Stowers to regain the lead.
In the last of the ninth, the Wings had two men aboard when Jecksson Flores grounded into a game-ending double play.
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