Nationals option All-Star Abrams to Triple-A due to ‘internal issue'

CHICAGO -- The Nationals optioned 23-year-old All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams to Triple-A Rochester on Saturday.

“I just want it to be known, it wasn’t performance-based,” said manager Dave Martinez. “It’s an internal issue. I’m not going to give specifics.”

Early Friday, a post on X by Cody Delmendo of CHGO Sports said that Abrams was at a local casino until 8 a.m. before Friday's day game. When asked about the post on Saturday, Martinez said, “Like I said, I’m not going to get into any specifics. We’re going to handle this internally.”

The plan is for Abrams to go back to Washington, D.C., and then to the Nationals’ training complex in West Palm Beach, Fla., until the end of the Major League season, where a group of Red Wings players also will be staying prepared.

“I’m going to support CJ,” Martinez said. “He’s a big part of our Nats family, and he will be. But at this point, for me, it’s the right thing to do.”

Abrams was informed of the decision following the Nationals’ game on Friday. Martinez said his own “emotions were all over the map” during the conversation.

“We had our moments, we sat here and we weeped together,” said Martinez. “As I always say, it’s about taking care of the person first and not the player. I’m going to do everything I can to help him. I love the kid, he’s a good kid and he’s going to be back.”

Abrams earned his first All-Star selection in a strong first half of the season. Following the break, though, he struggled at the plate, posting a .203/.260/.326 slash line with a .586 OPS and five home runs in 49 games.

On the season as a whole, Abrams became a member of the 20-30 club with 20 homers and 31 stolen bases. He was the first Nationals player to do so since Alfonso Soriano in 2006 and only the second in team history (2005-present).

“He’s going to be missed, as we all know, but it had nothing to do with his performance,” Martinez said. “The kid was a 20-30 guy. I know he struggled a little bit, but so does every young player. But he was doing well.”

The Nationals expressed their support for Abrams following their 5-1 win over the Cubs.

“CJ’s family,” said starting left-hander MacKenzie Gore, who was part of the Padres-Nationals trade with Abrams. “We played together our whole big league careers. It’s a tough situation for me, and I’m always going to be [there] for CJ in this situation. It’s interesting. It was a tough day hearing that. You care about him, so it was tough because we’re close, he’s family. And you lose your best player, so it’s a tough day.”

Joey Gallo, who became teammates with Abrams this season, said, “I can speak from my experience with CJ -- it’s been great. He’s still a young kid, and I think we all kind of make mistakes. We’ve all talked to him and just said to keep his head up. He really has had a fantastic year. He’s really a high character guy, he plays the game the right way every day, and he’s a great teammate. I’ve been honored to be able to play with him and share the field with him. Hopefully, he can learn from this and move on and continue to be a great player for this organization.”

In a corresponding move, infielder Trey Lipscomb was recalled from Rochester. Nasim Nuñez got the start at shortstop on Saturday.

“I assure you that he’ll be better, he will be,” Martinez said of Abrams. “We talked a long time yesterday and last time before we made any decisions. I know that he wants to be here. He expressed that very much. He said he’s going to miss his teammates. But, like I said, without getting into any details, this, to me, was the right thing to do.”