Among the other roster moves made by the Washington Nationals today, the most notable one was Trea Turner being sent down to Syracuse
Coming into spring training this year, one of the storylines everyone was watching on the Washington Nationals was who would win the starting shortstop spot between Danny Espinosa and Trea Turner. Today, we found out that answer as Espinosa has won the job and Turner will be starting the 2016 season with the triple-A Syracuse Chiefs. Here are the other roster moves the organization made today:
The #Nats have optioned RHP Rafael Martin and INF Trea Turner to Triple-A Syracuse.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 28, 2016
The #Nats have reassigned LHP Aaron Laffey, OF Tony Campana, RHP Nick Masset, INF Scott Sizemore & C Jhonatan Solano to Minor League. camp.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 28, 2016
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Even though Turner will not start the season in the big leagues, he still had some good moments this spring. In 21 games (36 at-bats), Turner hit .250 with one home run, four RBI’s, had a .349 on-base percentage, and was 7-for-7 in stolen bases (tied with Chris Owings of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the most steals this spring).
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To me, this move isn’t a surprise. Even though Espinosa has had a bad spring at the plate (4-for-30, one home run and four RBI’s), the Nats still needed a veteran at shortstop to start the season with Daniel Murphy’s defensive problems at second base.
In addition, the Nationals also have a veteran behind Espinosa in Stephen Drew, who has experience playing shortstop and second base. The question now will be whether or not another veteran, Brendan Ryan, makes one of the final roster spots on the team. Ryan is hitting .329 (11-for-29) with three RBI’s this spring.
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Turner is the number two prospect in the Nats’ organization according to MLB Pipeline. He was acquired last offseason from the Padres along with Joe Ross in the Wil Myers–Steven Souza Jr. trade. The 22-year-old Turner played in 27 games with the Nats last year and hit .227 with one home run and five RBI’s.
Now, Turner gets a chance to continue to work on his development in the minors and he gets a chance to play everyday. However, if Turner gets off to a great start and Espinosa struggles, Turner will get to the big leagues sooner rather than later. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster, but it is safe to say that he made a great impression amongst his coaches, including manager Dusty Baker, and his teammates.