Blake Butera just dropped a bomb in his pre-game press conference this afternoon. He announced that star shortstop CJ Abrams is going to move to second base moving forward. In some ways the decision is shocking, but it also makes a lot of sense.
CJ Abrams was the starting shortstop in the All-Star game for the Nationals League. Moving a player of that caliber off his position in the middle of August is quite the move. However, when you look at what Abrams can do defensively, the move is only logical.
Abrams has been a negative defender at short throughout his career. The 25 year old has compiled a fielding run value of -7 or worse every season as a big leaguer. Sometimes defensive metrics can be finicky, but when they say the same thing every season, you have to listen.
While Abrams' offensive production has skyrocketed this season under new coaching, the defense has not taken the same step. Abrams has -13 FRV, the worst of any shortstop this season. He has also been making more errors than ever, with the lowest fielding percentage of his career.
In Spring Training and in the beginning of the season, the coaching staff sounded optimistic about Abrams' defense. They talked about how great of an athlete he was and how there was a lot of untapped potential on both sides of the ball. However, as the year went on, we stopped hearing as much about his defense.
#game
CJ Abrams was the starting shortstop in the All-Star game for the Nationals League. Moving a player of that caliber off his position in the middle of August is quite the move. However, when you look at what Abrams can do defensively, the move is only logical.
Abrams has been a negative defender at short throughout his career. The 25 year old has compiled a fielding run value of -7 or worse every season as a big leaguer. Sometimes defensive metrics can be finicky, but when they say the same thing every season, you have to listen.
While Abrams' offensive production has skyrocketed this season under new coaching, the defense has not taken the same step. Abrams has -13 FRV, the worst of any shortstop this season. He has also been making more errors than ever, with the lowest fielding percentage of his career.
In Spring Training and in the beginning of the season, the coaching staff sounded optimistic about Abrams' defense. They talked about how great of an athlete he was and how there was a lot of untapped potential on both sides of the ball. However, as the year went on, we stopped hearing as much about his defense.
#game
2 months ago
