Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams is off to a flying start and "he's a heckuva player" and "has the chance to be a great player there's no question about it," Nats general manager Mike Rizzo said during his weekly appearance on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender."
After a two-hit night in San Francisco on Wednesday, including his third home run of the year, the 23-year-old shortstop raised his average to .344 and OPS to 1.088 on the year. He has nine hits in his last 22 at-bats with seven RBI and is riding a seven-game hitting streak.
Rizzo acknowledged that Abrams is still at "a tender major league service age" when asked if the infielder was on the brink of being a superstar, "but he's got all the ingredients to be a great player."
While Abrams did get caught stealing in Tuesday's 5-3 win, it was another big night of theft in the Bay Area as Jacob Young had three steals in the victory – the Nationals' third straight – and that aggressiveness on the basepaths was something Rizzo was hoping to see increase this year.
"We've got some speed on the club now," he told the Junkies. "...I think you'll see them attempting a lot this year, the rule changes have a lot to do with it, you kinda have to build your team around the base stealing, it's part of the strategy around the game, that's why we hate walks so much cause walks turn into doubles now and that's something that's difficult to overcome.
"We're looking to be aggressive on the basepaths, but not run into outs and be smart and pick our situations. And I think [manager Davey Martinez] has done a great job with that."
Young left-hander MacKenzie Gore has "been terrific" over his first two starts to the campaign, Rizzo said. Gore, 25, has surrendered five runs on 10 hits over 11.0 innings but struck out 12 in the process.
"His stuff is elite," the GM said. "He's really challenging the hitters more and pounding the strike zone at a much greater pace. I think you'll see his pitch selection has been much more balanced than it was last year. I think last start against the Phillies he threw somewhere around 15 or 16 percent changeups, along with the curveball, slider and four-seam fastball, that's a dramatic jump from last season where he's really trying to work that [changeup] into his repertoire as a fourth pitch and... when that pitch comes I think he's gonna start to really, really turn a corner for him.
"Because he's got all the power stuff in the world if he can get something to get those right-handed hitters off his fastball and off his hard slider, I think it's gonna make him even better."
Listen to the full conversation on the audio player above!