Plenty of hitters have enjoyed long, successful careers despite developing a reputation for being streaky. CJ Abrams may be trying to take that idea to a new extreme.

The Nationals’ All-Star shortstop has been through a roller coaster of a season to date, performing at both ends of the offensive spectrum.

Abrams posted an excellent .295/.373/.619 slash line in April, getting off to a fantastic start. Then he slumped in May, producing a slash line of .205/.216/.304. Once the calendar flipped to June, he turned red-hot again, finishing with a stellar .374/.464/.663 slash line that earned him his first career All-Star selection. But through July and the first five days of August, he’s plummeted back to earth, with a .167/.265/.283 slash line that has threatened to undo some of the good work he did in the season’s first half.

Nobody stays hot all season long at the plate. It’s inherently a streaky pursuit. But how can Abrams, in particular, turn those down periods a bit more respectable while waiting for another hot streak to kick in?

“Accept his walks,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s got to learn how to accept his walks. He’s seeing a lot more breaking pitches this year than he did last year. Last year, they were trying to pound him in, throw the ball up. He got better at hitting those balls. Now he’s getting a lot more off-speed stuff. He’s got to be able to identify them, get ready a little earlier and identify them early. And give himself a chance.”

CHICAGO – The Nationals’ series opener against the White Sox was postponed due to heavy rain that descended upon the area this afternoon and doesn’t promise to let up all night.

The two teams will play a traditional doubleheader Tuesday, with the first game starting at 4:40 p.m. Eastern and the nightcap to follow 30-to-45 minutes after conclusion of the opener.

Though it was warm and muggy earlier in the day, the skies began to darken by midafternoon. The grounds crew at Guaranteed Rate Field preemptively rolled out the tarp and covered up the infield before either team could take batting practice, and for good reason: It started raining hard only a few minutes later.

Rather than wait it out for hours and hope conditions improved enough to get the game in tonight, officials called it off slightly more than an hour before scheduled first pitch at 7:40 p.m. Eastern. Neither scheduled starting pitcher began to warm up.

Trevor Williams, tonight’s originally scheduled starter, will now pitch Game 1 on Tuesday, opposed by right-hander Chris Flexen. Mitchell Parker will start as scheduled Tuesday, taking the mound for the nightcap against former Nationals righty Erick Fedde.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s been exactly 145 days since the Nationals last played a baseball game. That dry spell ends tonight, and even though it’s merely opening night for the Grapefruit League season, it’s still a whole lot better than not playing a baseball game, right?

The Nats’ first of 31 exhibition games over the next month is a Saturday night home game against an Astros club that shares the same spring complex with them. The recently renamed CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches will be re-dedicated, with Houston rap star (and CACTI hard seltzer founder) Travis Scott throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to Josiah Gray.

Then everyone gets down to business, and there’s plenty of business at hand for the Nationals. Here are some things to watch for tonight …

* Which regulars will play?
Davey Martinez didn’t divulge any details about his starting lineup in advance, other than saying CJ Abrams will be leading off. Most of the projected regulars should be playing as well, but we’ll have to wait to find out for sure.

It will, of course, be interesting (and perhaps telling) where a handful of guys are playing. Is Joey Meneses the opening night first baseman, or will Joey Gallo get that honor? If not, will Gallo be in left field? Are Luis García Jr. and Victor Robles both starting, and if so, will they feel pressure to do something of note in their spring debuts, given the tenuous hold each has on his respective starting job?

When the Nationals removed Travis Blankenhorn from their 40-man roster in early October, the 27-year-old outfielder had the option of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Rochester or becoming a free agent. He chose to become a free agent, perhaps believing a better opportunity would be available elsewhere.

Blankenhorn, though, eventually found his way back to the Nationals, recently signing a minor-league deal with the organization, which was willing to give him another shot.

The Nats got only a brief look at Blankenhorn last season. After putting up big numbers (23 homers, 75 RBIs, .877 OPS) in 108 games at Rochester, he was promoted to the majors Sept. 1 and immediately made his presence known, homering in his first game that night at Nationals Park.

That proved the high point of his season, though. Blankenhorn played in only 10 games, going 5-for-31 with no other extra-base hits or RBIs following the homer in his debut. And he wound up going on the 10-day injured list with plantar fasciitis in his foot, missing the final two weeks of the season.

Given the organization’s well-known crop of top outfield prospects, Blankenhorn didn’t seem to have much future with the Nationals, which explains in part why they took him off the 40-man roster. But they will still need outfield depth in the minors, and perhaps someone who could be used in the majors if the need arises before prospects like James Wood, Dylan Crews and Robert Hassell III are deemed ready.