Grading the 2024 Washington Nationals: position player edition

Last week, we took an unsparing look at how the Washington Nationals pitching staff fared in 2024. Today, we’re grading the rest of the roster: position players, including designated hitters, who don’t actually play a real position but whatever.

As usual, player grades are arbitrary, although I’ve tried my best to be fair. I’ve also graded players against expectations. To earn an A, a player would have to exceed reasonable expectations for themselves and their role on the team. For a B, a player would have to generally meet expectations. A C grade is on the borderline, as it’s a passing grade but generally indicates a player could have done quite a bit more (in my view) with the opportunities they were given. A D grade represents a qualified failure, as the player had their moments, but ultimately, they did not make a good case in the time they had; many of my D recipients were ultimately demoted or designated for assignment during the season. An F grade is reserved for truly disastrous seasons, usually over a sustained period of time and despite many opportunities.

With that, let’s dive in. I’ll caution you upfront that some of these grades received quite a bit more explanation than others…as you’ll see right away.

The Nats wanted CJ Abrams to take a step forward after his 2023 season. He did. They wanted him to emerge as a star on this young roster. He did. So, why does it feel like Abrams had kind of a disappointing season?

Let’s start off by noting Abrams was one of just a few major leaguers with a 20/20 season (20 home runs, 31 stolen bases, to be precise) this year. While his .747 OPS doesn’t look that remarkable, when adjusted to his ballpark and compared against the rest of the league, it comes out as about 10% better than average (110 OPS+). Abrams also led the 2024 Nationals in rWAR with 3.4. He was one of the team’s two representatives to the All-Star Game and the only one to appear in the game.