CJ Abrams had never been to El Paso, Texas, before the Padres optioned the rookie shortstop to the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. He’d, however, earned a thing or two about the Chihuahuas’ Southwest University Park.The 21-year-old shortstop hit a three-run homer in the second and added a two-run shot an inning later in a game the Chihuahuas lost to visiting Sacramento, 10-9, in 10 innings.
All told, Abrams was 2-for-5 in his Triple-A debut after a stellar spring convinced the Padres to bring him to San Diego to help a team that is expected to be without Fernando Tatis Jr. for at least two months.No. 9 in MLB.com’s top-100 prospect rankings, Abrams started on opening day in Arizona and homered in his first at-bat at Petco Park but lost playing time to Ha-seong Kim in recent weeks as his batting line plunged to .182/.270/.273 over his first 65 plate appearances.
On Tuesday, Abrams was finally pulled into the manager’s office for a conversation with Bob Melvin and President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller. It was time for the Padres’ top position prospect — who’d lost all of 2020 to the pandemic and half a year in Double-A to leg injuries — to play every day.
“I told him, ‘Look, go down there and rake like you’re capable of and we saw in spring training and play your way back here,’” Melvin said Tuesday. “We’re probably not doing him any good not playing him every day. This is a guy that has only played so many games in Double-A and still has some development to do but made the team because he played pretty well.Abrams was upbeat as he received the news.
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