Main Culprits of Horrible Defense Could Cause Nationals to Make Major Changes

The Washington Nationals could be forced to make some major changes.

Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams and third baseman Brady House | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals have been horrible on the defensive end when it comes to their infield.

They have committed 39 total errors. That leads the majors by a large margin, as the team with the second-most only has 28. The most concerning thing is that there are nine position players with at least one error to their name, which suggests the entire operation has been sloppy.

First-year manager Blake Butera is trying to get that fixed with more intensive pregame drills, but at a certain point, the Nationals might come to the conclusion that certain players just won't ever be high-end defenders at their current positions. While CJ Abrams at shortstop is the most glaring one, Brady House at third base could also be added to that list based on how he's performed thus far. And because of that, there could be some serious changes coming to Washington at some point.

CJ Abrams' Future at Shorstop Should Be in Question

Washington Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

This is a topic that's not going to go away until the Nationals decide to move Abrams out of shortstop or until he's no longer with the team. By now, just about everyone is aware of how bad the 25-year-old has been defensively at that position. But once again, he is struggling this season. Abrams is tied for the MLB lead in errors with seven. Naturally, that leads Washington as well, and it has made his career defensive numbers even more horrendous with values of minus-52 in outs above average and minus-eight in defensive runs saved.

At some point, the Nationals have to make the decision to move Abrams to second base. While that would be a difficult conversation to have and it could create a fracture in their relationship that is too much to overcome, it would immediately help the team and would potentially give the franchise an opportunity to actually extend him long term if the two sides can come to an agreement.

Beyond that, getting Abrams out of the shortstop spot would create an opening at this key position for some of their star prospects to eventually take over. Top prospect Seaver King -- who could find himself in Triple-A before too long -- might be the guy for that job in 2027. And eventually, there will be a competition between King, rising star prospect Ronny Cruz and 2025 No. 1 overall pick Eli Willits to see who will be this team's shorrstop of the future.

Brady House Is Creating Question Marks About His Viability

Washington Nationals third baseman Brady House | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Coming into the year, one of the things that wasn't a major concern surrounding House was his defense. While he struggled at the plate in 2025 during his first taste of Major League Baseball, he showed that he could man a good third base with two outs above average and zero defensive runs saved. But so far, that has not been the case this season.

House is second on the team in errors committed with six. That is also tied for the second-most in the majors. In addition to that, he has been worth minus-four defensive runs saved and minus-three outs above average across 248 innings, which is a huge drop off from what he did last year.

While the 22-year-old has improved at the plate this season, his poor defense creates a whole new set of issues when it comes to his viability as the team's franchise third baseman. Because of that, it wouldn't be a surprise to see current Triple-A standout Yohandy Morales get an opportunity there at some point this campaign. And if that doesn't work out, Washington might even dip into the upper tier of free agents at some point while they wait for Gavin Fien to develop into a major league player.

So, as the Nationals continue to go through the early part of their season with the worst defense in the majors when it comes to errors committed, the main culprits of that -- Abrams and House -- could cause the organization to usher in some massive changes at some point as this new regime tries to fix the things that have caused their rebuild to stall.