Good afternoon DoD readers, and welcome to today’s District Daily! Get caught up on all the latest Nats news with some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web below.
We start off today’s Daily with some not-so-great news from CSN Washington’s Chase Hughes. According to Hughes, Nationals’ third baseman Anthony Rendon, who is still rehabbing a sprained knee, is back in D.C. to see team doctors about the “side tightness” he’s been dealing with in recent days.
Obviously, this is not what the Nationals or their fans want to hear right now. Just when it looked like Rendon’s knee was finally getting better and he was on his way back, the issue in his side appears to have stalled his rehab, at least for the time being.
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According to Hughes, manager Matt Williams and the Nationals are not too concerned about the latest set-back, with Williams saying that Rendon is “day-to-day.” But Rendon is definitely a concern for the Nationals, especially given how his original knee injury started. After landing hard on the knee making a defensive play in Spring Training, Williams said Rendon would only be out for a few days. Obviously, the injury turned out to be much more serious, and here we are, on May 4, with Rendon yet to make his 2015 debut.
Right now, all the Nationals can hope for is that his recent setback won’t delay his rehab too much and that he’ll rejoin the team later this week or next week at the latest. The team has been playing much better of late, but they’ll need a healthy Rendon in the lineup everyday if they want to continue their winning ways into the summer.
Also in today’s Daily, the Washington Post’s James Wagner discusses Ian Desmond changing his glove. As we know, Desmond’s defense is always shaky in April, and this season was no exception.
Recently, however, Desmond has looked more comfortable in the field and has stopped making errors on a near-daily basis like he did in April. While there are probably several reasons for his defensive improvement, his new glove may very well have played a role in his newfound defensive mojo.
Be sure to check out both articles below, they’re definitely worth a read. And as always, stay tuned to DoD for all your Washington Nationals needs.
Anthony Rendon back in D.C. to see Nats doctors
(Chase Hughes, CSN Washington)
After being scratched from Double-A Harrisburg’s lineup on consecutive days, Anthony Rendon is now back in Washington set to meet with Nationals orthopedist Dr. Wiemi Douoguih to get a look at what the team is calling “side tightness.”
Rendon missed the last two games on his rehab assignment with the new injury after working nearly two months to return from a sprained left MCL. Manager Matt Williams stopped short of saying Rendon’s injury was to his oblique muscle, but said the Nats are hopeful he can return soon.
“I don’t know why it’s been a problem. It’s just crept up on him. So we’re being cautious with it to make sure that it doesn’t turn into something we don’t want it to turn into,” Williams said. Read full article here.
Ian Desmond switched his gloves to feel more comfortable
(James Wagner, Washington Post)
For reasons that baffle Ian Desmond, early April has often been a struggle in the field, and this season was no different. He made eight errors in the Nationals‘ first 12 games. His confidence took a hit. He did more fielding drills to help snap out of the funk. But he also made a small, hard-to-notice adjustment to help improve his comfort: he switched gloves.
Desmond began the season with a new black Mizuno glove. Desmond broke it in, but the glove, he said, “wasn’t working. If it ain’t working, fix it.” Desmond likes that glove but “it just wasn’t ready yet. It takes time. I tried to rush it a little bit.”
So Desmond made a switch. “I sent it down to Triple-A basically,” he said. And he called up his backup glove, a tan Mizuno glove of the same model, to the majors as a starter. Read full article here.