CJ Abrams matches historic Alex Rodriguez milestone
The Washington Nationals left Cleveland with a series win on Wednesday despite a loss in the third and final game of the series.
The pitching was once again uncharacteristically stellar, while the offense uncharacteristically struggled.
Well, most of the offense struggled. The one player in the lineup who stayed in character like he has all season was CJ Abrams. And his offensive output put his name in the same conversation as the great Alex Rodriguez for a huge milestone.
With James Wood on third, two outs in the 3rd inning and down 0-2 in the count, Abrams laced a 108 mph double down the right field line that gave the Nats a 1-0 lead and gave him his 47th RBI in the 56th game of the season.
According to Nats play-by-play announcer Dan Kolko, his 47th RBI was the most by a shortstop in the first 56 games of a season since Alex Rodriguez in 2002 (55). Whenever you are mentioned alongside early-2000s A-Rod, you know you are doing something right at the plate.
CJ Abrams slugs his way into A-Rod territory
A-Rod's 2002 season was his second with the Texas Rangers. He played in all 162 games and ended up driving in 142 RBIs while mashing an unprecedented for a shortstop 57 home runs while drawing 87 walks with an OPS of 1.015. But that performance was only good enough to finish second place in AL MVP voting behind another shortstop, Miguel Tejada.
As hot as Abrams' bat has been, he has no chance of matching those power numbers, but still, for the team, his ascension through the early part of this season has to be a positive sign.
CJ Abrams has had hot starts to the season before in his career, but much like the Nats' tepid success so far this season, this time it feels different for the 25-year-old former All-Star.
Among shortstops, CJ ranks 1st in RBIs (47), 1st in slugging percentage (.542), 1st in OPS (.937), and 2nd in homers (12). His .294 batting average this season is 41 points higher than his career average and his OPS is nearly 200 points higher.
He is about as locked in as you can be as a hitter right now, and he was the only Nat on Wednesday to get more than one hit in a game where the offense struggled mightily.
He and James Wood have been tearing the cover off the ball lately, and the James Wood run he batted in allowed his teammate to push his runs score lead to 49 for the season.
Wood and Abrams were half of the return the Nats got for trading Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres for a season and a half. For a while, they were both seen as cornerstones of the team's future.
However, reports indicated the Nats were shopping Abrams in the offseason, but other teams didn't value him as the Nats did, so the team never got a deal done.
Thank goodness other teams couldn't see his value because he has become invaluable to the Nats offense.
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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 12:33 PM.