The Washington Nationals had already transitioned from competing to losing quite a bit when Lane Thomas arrived via trade in July 2021. When the team decided the following summer to move Juan Soto to trigger a full rebuild, Thomas understood that the Nationals might not be winning for quite some time.
Two years later, the 28-year-old arrived at Petco Park with a club that was a game under .500, a half-game out of the NL’s wild-card chase and, quite frankly, ahead of schedule.
“To get two guys that have made a big impact on our team that quick, I think it’s pretty incredible,” Thomas said Monday afternoon. “It’s hard to replace a guy like Juan Soto, but I think we did it about as good as you can do.”
Those two guys are CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore.
Now they aren’t the only guys that general manager Mike Rizzo pried from A.J. Preller in the summer of 2022, but they’re more than doing their part to fill the massive void left in D.C. following Soto’s trade to San Diego.
The 23-year-old Abrams has a 1.034 OPS through the first 16 games in June and returns to Petco Park as the Nationals’ leader in homers (12), RBIs (39), runs (45), slugging (.496) and OPS (.817).
Likewise, the 25-year-old Gore enters Tuesday’s start leading the Nationals in wins (6) and strikeouts (98).
While Rizzo did not hit on all the prospects acquired for Soto — outfielder Robert Hassell III is injured and has a .738 OPS in Double-A and Jarlin Susana has a 5.44 ERA in 12 high-A starts — outfielder James Wood is knocking on Washington’s door with a 1.053 OPS in 49 games at Triple-A Rochester, further stoking belief that the Nationals are on the verge of a fun summer in the nation’s capital.
“We have a really good group of guys and we want to win for each other,” Gore said. “I think that’s why we’ve had the success we’ve had. It’s still early. It’s June. We have a lot of games left … but it’s been fun being part of this group and watching these guys get better.”
The Nationals got quite a bit worse before this parting of the clouds as a Soto-less team sputtered to a .340 winning percentage in 2022, tied for the second-worst winning percentage in franchise history.
Elbow inflammation barred Gore from pitching for his new team after the trade and Abrams posted a .603 OPS over 44 games with the Nationals to close that year.
But both became regulars on a young team in 2023, growing into more substantial roles as the Nationals progressed from a 36-54 first half to going 35-37 after the All-Star break.
Gore went 7-10 while throwing 136⅓ innings (4.42 ERA) in his first full season in the majors and Abrams began to tap into his potential as a rare power-speed threat as he paired 47 steals with 18 home runs.
That both are taking the next steps toward realizing potential first unearthed as top Padres prospects has everything to do with the Nationals, a half-game behind the Padres to start the week, forcing their way into the wild-card chase less than two years removed from the Soto rebuild.
For Gore, that’s been about building on a healthy 2023.
As for Abrams, the on-base percentage is up 20 points, he’s absolutely crushing fastballs (.674 slugging) and the errant throws have been largely corralled as he’s made just five errors in 270 chances (.981 fielding percentage).
“Nobody wants to lose,” Gore said. “No matter what you’re playing you don’t want to lose. So understanding why you’re losing and you want to stop doing that as fast as possible. I think that’s kind of where we’re at. We don’t want to lose. We want to compete and we also want to be the best version of yourself.”
Added Abrams: “It was an opportunity when we came over here. This is our team now. We’re doing our thing.”