ATLANTA – It is a gorgeous late afternoon at Truist Park, and life is good for Chris Abrams. He stands in front of the Washington Nationals dugout during batting practice, catching up with manager Dave Martinez and other well-wishers as the Nationals prepare to take on the Braves. He wears his Nationals cap and T-shirt, shorts and sunglasses, and his distinctive, easy laugh can be heard.
When CJ Abrams, the Nationals starting shortstop, steps into the cage to take his swings, however, Chris quietly moves to the side to get a better view. His face has a concentrated look, head tilted slightly forward. He watches intently as CJ takes his turn, seemingly making some mental notes. He’s locked in on each cut.
Chris has seen thousands upon thousands of his son’s swings before, from age four right up to now at age 23, where CJ is in his first full season hitting leadoff for the Nationals. But apparently there is always more to take away.
“He’s still coaching me,” CJ says. “I’m on the phone with him every day. He was the (main) coach on the team till I was 13.”
On this Father’s Day, Chris plans to be at Nationals Park like he was last year to watch his son play. The Atlanta resident has been to Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Boston so far this season, and although he made an early trip in June to D.C., he’s returning to see the Nats play the Marlins this weekend.
“I can play the Father’s Day card,” he laughs.
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Abrams and his wife Ruth settled in Roswell, Ga., an Atlanta suburb just north of the city. Chris had been a Division 2 and NAIA basketball player, but in his words, he figured out NBA players were freaks of nature who were at least 6-foot-8 or as quick as Allen Iverson.
“I thought, if I ever have a child, we’re going to start playing baseball,” he said. “You can be good at baseball and be 5-foot-2.”
As a seven-year-old, CJ (short for Chris Jr.) wasn’t quite 5-foot-2, but he could swing a bat. A YouTube video circulated that caught the left-handed hitter cranking a line-drive off the head of the pitcher in coach pitch. Fortunately for Chris, he wasn’t pitching that day.
“I was never accurate enough,” he smiles.
Baseball wasn’t CJ’s only sport, though. He excelled in basketball and football as well, and grew up in an area teeming with future pros. His backcourt mate in middle school AAU basketball was Ravens Pro Bowl safety Kyle Hamilton. New England Patriots free agent linebacker Steele Chambers was also on that team, along with Chargers defensive lineman Chris Hinton and Falcons rookie linebacker J.T. Bertrand.
“It was a good squad,” CJ says.
Good enough to compete with Anthony Edwards’ squad, where according to Chris, Ant Man was only the third best player on that team.
“Growing up, it was just kind of normal,” CJ says. “Everybody was good at sports and we just competed against each other and it was just a lot of fun. It probably made me better, yes.”
And while CJ kept playing football through one year of high school at Blessed Trinity and basketball for three years, it was baseball that was the year-round sport of choice. He played some form almost every day, hopping into the car with his dad for the five-minute drive to Newtown Park to take some swings and field some grounders.
When hoops ended his freshman year, he worked out for the first time with the Blessed Trinity baseball team on a Saturday.
“He was in the lineup hitting third on Monday,” says BT coach Jamie Wagner. “We played (2012 No. 2 overall draft pick) Byron Buxton in the playoffs a few years before, and we were like, at least speed-wise, this guy is Byron Buxton.”
CJ played year round baseball, but he was more interested in following the NBA rather than MLB. Chris says the family would go to cookouts and friends’ houses and people would ask CJ about baseball, and he would tell them he didn’t watch it. He liked Ken Griffey Jr. highlights, especially from the Home Run Derby days, but really, even up to and after being drafted No. 6 overall in the 2019 draft, C.J. just went out and played and didn’t worry about teams and opponents and the larger landscape of baseball.
“We had a pre-draft trip down to Miami, and Derek Jeter was the GM,” Chris laughs. “Now I’m pretty sure he knew the name ‘Derek Jeter’, but I wasn’t sure he could pick him out of a crowd, so I made sure ahead of time he knew which one was Jeter.”
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Abrams tore it up with the Padres’ rookie league squad at 18, hitting .401 in 32 games after he was drafted. The pandemic eliminated the 2020 season, and in 2021 he spent the year at Double-A San Antonio proving to be the promising prospect the Padres had hoped for. He made his MLB debut in April of 2022, and by August, after 46 games with the Padres, he was one of the big pieces Washington wanted when it traded superstar Juan Soto to San Diego.
He spent 2023 as the Nationals’ starting shortstop, hitting .245 with 18 home runs, 47 steals and 64 RBIs and batting the first half the year at the bottom of the order and the second half at the top.
This season, he’s almost exclusively batted leadoff, and has an NL-best five triples to go along with 11 home runs, 10 steals and a .768 OPS, which trails only Mookie Betts among NL shortstops. He is also a plus defender.
CJ ABRAMS BASES CLEARING DOUBLE!! LFGGGG pic.twitter.com/fKNe8rVFdC
— optimistic nats fan (@optimistic5518) June 9, 2024
“He’s a future All-Star,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “There’s no doubt about that. When he gets on base, he makes things happen for us. He’s one of the most exciting players in the game.”
And behind much of that success has been Chris, who Martinez said reminded him of his own father.
“They have a unique father-son dynamic, they really do,” Martinez says. “He reminds me of my dad. When I was struggling in Triple-A, I looked up and my dad was above the dugout and he says, ‘You and I, after the game, we’ll do some soft toss’ and he got me straightened out.
“(Chris) is that guy. He just wants CJ to succeed, and I love that about him.”
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In the basement of the Abrams house, there are piles of homemade hitting tools Chris put together over the years that Ruth is ready to get rid of. In the backyard, there is an inflatable batting cage to make it easier when CJ wants to get in a few swings during the offseason (“As long as it's not a permanent structure, (the town of) John’s Creek can’t tell me to take it down” Chris says).
CJ recognizes the partnership and baseball bond he’s formed with his father, so much so that he’s taken his father up to bat with him at times during his pro career. Literally. CJ has a photo of him with his dad when CJ was two, sitting together on a hammock at Chris’ sister’s house. Father and son are leaning back, and each have both hands behind their head. He had that photo inside a necklace he used to wear when he played, though the necklace has been damaged. He also has used bats with that photo of him and his dad imprinted on the knob in the minors and with the Nationals.
“I was really shocked,” Chris says. “It’s cool for him to show that level of appreciation for all the times me and him went out there and hit baseballs and for all the stupid gadgets I put together for him to try to help him get better at hitting a baseball.”
The daily phone calls have shown no signs of stopping. The tips on hitting, the talking baseball and the constant support are all in place as the 23-year-old rising star works toward fulfilling the promise so many have seen in him. Especially his father.
“Having him be able to watch me on Father’s Day, I love it. I love him being there,” CJ says. “He’s my guy. He’s the reason I'm here, for sure. Just thankful for him.”
