Washington Nationals News: Anthony Rendon Back On The Disabled List
By Ricky Keeler
It has been an injury-plagued season for Washington Nationals second baseman Anthony Rendon. After having a sprained MCL during spring training and injuring his oblique during a rehab assignment, Rendon is back on the disabled list after playing in 18 games because of a strain in his left quadriceps. Earlier today, the team called up shortstop Emmanuel Burriss to take Rendon’s spot on the 25-man roster and Reed Johnson was put on the 60-day DL with an ankle injury.
#Nats select INF Emmanuel Burriss from Triple-A & place INF Anthony Rendon on the 15-day DL: http://t.co/0zuZWT3bdl pic.twitter.com/QclmUe7e6D
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) June 26, 2015
In those 18 games, the 25-year-old Rendon is hitting .290 with no home runs and five RBI’s. In the two games he played against the Braves this week, you got the sense that Rendon was starting to find his form at the plate. He went 6-for-8 with a RBI in two games, including a 4-for-4 night against Alex Wood on Tuesday. However, according to Williams Ladson of MLB.com, the injury for Rendon occurred in the sixth inning last Saturday:
Anthony Rendon hurt his quad while hitting a double during Scherzer no-hitter game. #Nats #MLB #Nationals
— William Ladson (@ladsonbill24) June 26, 2015
In the meantime, the Nationals will use Danny Espinosa as the second baseman. He is in the lineup tonight and will hit in the number two spot behind Denard Span. He has had eight at-bats out of the two spot in the lineup this season (2-for-8).
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Down at triple-A Syracuse, Emmanuel Burriss hit .278 in 62 games with three home runs, 21 RBI’s, and ten stolen bases. The 30-year-old infielder has not played a game in the Major Leagues since he was with the San Francisco Giants in 2012. In 21 at-bats this month for the Chiefs, he was hitting .275 with one home run and nine RBI’s. In order to fill Burriss’ spot in triple-A, the Nats called up Trea Turner last night to be the shortstop for the Chiefs.
Even though the Nats offense has improved of late, it will be interesting to see how they handle losing Rendon again, a player who had an excellent 2014 season (.287, 21 HR, 83 RBI’s and a WAR of 6.5) and has been one of the keys to the Nats offensive resurgence over the last week.
However, this does give Danny Espinosa a spot in the field where he can play everyday and it allows Matt Williams to use both Tyler Moore and Clint Robinson strictly at first base until Ryan Zimmerman gets back.
That being said, Robinson is batting cleanup tonight and playing right field. The reason for that is because Bryce Harper is out of the lineup for the second straight game after suffering a leg cramp while running the bases in the 11th inning in Wednesday’s win over the Braves.
The question is will the Nats have a repeat of yesterday’s game when they scored seven runs without Harper or Rendon. Tonight, Max Scherzer takes the mound against the Phillies, who have a new manager as Pete Mackanin, the team’s third base coach, takes over for Ryne Sandberg, who resigned as manager this afternoon.