Padres shortstop prospect CJ Abrams has been diagnosed with a fractured left tibia and sprained MCL, reports Dennis Lin of the Athletic (Twitter link). His recovery comes with a three-month timetable, ending his season. He suffered the injury during an on-field collision on Wednesday.
Abrams is one of the sport’s most electrifying minor league talents. Each of Baseball America, Keith Law of the Athletic, and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him among the game’s top 11 overall prospects entering the year. The 6th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Abrams draws praise for his abilities on both sides of the ball. A top-of-the-scale runner and extremely advanced hitter, the 20-year-old is seen as a potential future star.
He’s reached the high minors for the first time this season. Through 183 plate appearances with Double-A San Antonio, Abrams has hit .296/.363/.420 with a pair of home runs and 13 stolen bases. That’s quality production from any player in a pitcher-friendly environment, but it’s particularly impressive considering Abrams’ youth.
Abrams never seemed especially likely to make an impact at the major league level this season. Because of last year’s canceled minor league campaign, he has all of 348 plate appearances since being drafted out of a Georgia high school. He also doesn’t need to be added to the 40-man roster this winter. Any small chance that existed of Abrams making his major league debut this year is now gone, although the expectation seems to be he’ll have a relatively normal offseason and be ready for Spring Training in 2022.
Dang that stinks
Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
I give up.
I hope Abrams has more tenacity than you do.
Padres still aren’t that good with him and it was doubtful he was even making it up to bigs this year. Not sure how this is a big loss for there current roster, they also have machado, tatis and cronenworth mashing in majors so where would he play, first?
He would play next year in CF possibly and shift Grisham over to LF or RF if Pham and/or Myers aren’t back.
Abrams is the shortstop long term. I know people don’t want to hear it but Tatis is garbage defensively.
Most of Tatis’ errors are throwing errors. He’s only 22 and still has a chance to get that sorted out.
It’s almost like errors are not the only way to judge a SS’s defensive ability.
I’m a big Tatis fan, but it’s not like the other ways to judge him defensively are any kinder. Most of the stats give him negative value at SS, unfortunately. Still has time to fix that though.
Pham will be gone next year. He is 33, has underperformed for the most part, is a defensive liability as well as a bit of a drama queen on top of it.
Tommy Pham has a .371 OBP and is on pace for a roughly 20-20 season DESPITE starting the year ice cold. The Padres also have nobody to replace him with until Hassell makes it to MLB, unless you believe in Jorge Ona.
If you’re not sure how big a loss it is for the current roster, perhaps you can re-read the last paragraph … in particular the first sentence.
Lol and my curiosity continues–what actually makes someone a star commenter (“tr”) on this site? I read good posts from a handful of folks without the cherished mark…yet stupid ones from those crowned top of the board. I know I will never be–I never accrue such awards because I don’t give a darn–but still curious as to what makes someone a top commenter w a fancy gold star. It sure isn’t an intelligent take!
They pay $2.99 a month. Has nothing to do with the quality of their comments.
Ahh, thx for the clarification, Steve.
Tow, your comment just led me to reiterate that confusion, nothing personal. I too enjoy mlbtr, but also do not feel the need to pay for info that is and ultimately should be free.
Some folks believe one should have to pay for information, a rather dangerous idea.
@Sideline – One way or another, we’re all paying for this information. I think it’s worth supporting the efforts of those working at MLBTR.
What MLBTR contributes to the overall sport of baseball with its vast and often times exhaustive research into analytics is worth the support. My overreactive take on the injury is not indicative of the current state of the Padres but more or less a response to years of frustration with San Diego sports in general. This town, in years past can t seem to catch a break. The team, as construcred, is exciting but needs an additional starter, bulpen arm and bat. RF and 1B are a concern currently but both have sizeable contracts. A trade, contractually with the Yankees may match up. So yes the initial comment was born out of frustration.
It’s almost like SD doesn’t deserve pro sports teams or something. Why bother having them if the team owners and front offices are going to never win?
This ownership for the Padres has more than shown fans they care unlike the Chargers who wanted out of this beautiful city. Siedler and Co have heavily invested in this team and city and MLB is also appreciative of San Diego and what it has to offer. The NFL,NBA and even the NHL have failed to recognize that San Diego is a destination and worthy of pro sports. The San Diego region only adds to the Southern California draw creating more venues and a natural geographic rivalry. It would behoove the other leagues to take note.
@ A’sfaninUK
That is pretty big talk coming from a fan of a city less than 1/3 the size of San Diego who only has a team because their big brother in San Francisco has one. Oh wait, San Diego is also bigger than your big brother San Francisco!
Perhaps you should sit your *ss down and wait until the adults ask you for your opinion.
I@A’sfaninUK
It’s bad ownership and poor management. Look at the Mariners. They haven’t been to the postseason since 2001. For years they have been letting their stars go to other teams rather than pay them the going rate.
The Padres had that problem for years, but their current owner wants a winner. I doubt they’ll win it all this year, but they do have a chance. At least they’re beating the Dodgers.
Have you been living under a rock since ~ 2001? Please tell me which “stars” the mariners have allowed to go to other teams that’s hurt them over the years?
Lol says the A’s fan. Dictionary definition of irony.
A little JJ Abrams magic and he could be back on the field tomorrow via CGI.
In all seriousness, he wasn’t going to debut this year so it doesn’t impact the major league team much at all, but it does impact his development time. He should make his highly anticipated debut late in 2022 be a regular contributor as a leadoff hitter in San Diego come 2023. Can’t wait to see what he can do alongside Tatis & Machado!
I was hoping for an early 2020 debut for him, but your timeline is probably the more accurate one now unfortunately. An eventual 1-4 of Abrams, Grisham, Tatis Jr, Machado should be fun to watch.
Keep in mind that San Diego also has Ha-Seong Kim in the IF mix as well, so once Abrams is ready, they are going to be overflowing with IF talent (Machado, Tatis, Croenworth, Kim, Abrams & Hosmer). Hopefully the NL will have adopted the DH full time by 2023, but there still won’t be enough at bats to go around for all of this talent. I’m thinking that San Diego might explore dealing Kim to a SS/2B needy team either this offseason or possibly the next (after he builds some more value). Kim is a very talented player but has struggled to adapt to MLB so far. I have a feeling he’s going to have a better second half of the season but he really needs to find a team where he can play full time. Maybe they can flip him for a young OF talent?
Trade Kim to the Yankees.
Calling Hosmer IF “talent” seems very kind.
man that sucks
MLB the show legend
A bummer, but he is young and will bounce back. He does not exactly have a path to the show anyway…
I wish this kid a speedy recovery.
Well now there’s a chance for Pham being re signed
I’ve said it before, if you think Franco is going to be “Wander-full” (and he will be), wait till you get a peek at CJ. The guy just oooooozes MLB level talent. And yes, Tatis changes position for Abrams. Huge, huge talent.
Doubt they would have promoted him because of the forthcoming (almost certain) work stoppage/strike. Rays only moved Franco up because of their offensive struggles. The Padres don’t have that issue. Just about any player that doesn’t need to be protected, won’t be, so they can keep on playing; if they’re on the 40, they sit during a stoppage.
Very disappointing, I’m huge on this kid and was hoping for an outside chance at seeing him get the the bigs by the end of this season. I could have seen him potentially replacing Pham in LF next season, but obviously this will delay his development a bit.
Was wondering what happened last night when I didn’t see him take the field. He had been playing well and that is a pitchers park for sure.