https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/09/13/cj-abrams-spanish-nationals/Apparently, among other subjects, he was a pretty good student of Spanish in high school. He uses it with Garcia and the other infielders. The article compares him to Brian Dozier. Dozier learned Spanish explicitly to help communicate with teammates, while Abrams started with Spanish more because he was just a bright kid. There's a mention of mound conferences with Meneses, Garcia, and Hernandez where he pipes in in Spanish. Garcia, btw, was born in NYC but mostly raised in the DR; the article makes the point that they both swing back and forth between English and Spanish when they talk to each other.
Abrams said he used what he learned in class when he turned professional but noted, “School and actually applying [Spanish] is a lot different.” Most notably, the conjugations and tenses were difficult. There are also variations of the language, depending on what country someone is from, so slang and differences in dialect can be a barrier.
He said his Spanish-speaking teammates make mistakes when speaking English, so he doesn’t feel any embarrassment when he makes errors in Spanish. Most notably, he and García — the Nationals’ future in the middle infield — have become close. They joke in the clubhouse in both languages, and García said Abrams understands Spanish well.
