Before switch-hitting infielder Zach Walters returned to the majors yesterday in Coors Field in Colorado and sparked the Washington Nationals' two-out, ninth-inning rally, which eventually fell short, Nationals' skipper Matt Williams talked to reporters about how the 24-year-old infielder would be used while he's up with Ryan Zimmerman on the DL with what the first-year manager said after the game was a "pretty substantial strain of the hamstring."
Walters comes back up in the middle of a strong stretch.
In 19 games in July, the former Arizona Diamondbacks' 2010 9th Round pick, acquired in the July 2011 trade that sent Jason Marquis to the D-Backs, put up a .364/.437/.662 line with seven doubles, two triples and four home runs in 77 at bats.
On the year at Triple-A, Walters put up a .300/.358/.608 line with 18 doubles, five triples and 15 HRs in 60 games before he was called back up.
With the Nationals' top affiliate, Walters has a .287/.350/.613 line, 13 of his 18 doubles and 12 of his 15 HRs against right-handed pitchers, which could make him an ideal platoon partner at second if, [stresses, "if"] he can reproduce those results at the major league level, since Danny Espinosa has continued to struggle from the left side with a .190/.249/.307 line in 205 plate appearances against right-handed pitchers this season.
The Nationals, as both Williams and GM Mike Rizzo noted yesterday, optioned Walters to the minors after his last stint with the Nats, with a plan to have him get work at second base. As they both explained it, however, it doesn't sound like a strict platoon is part of the current plans.
"'When we sent Zach down from the big leagues last time,'" Williams explained, as reported by MASNSports.com's Josh Land, "'the instructions were to have him play second base, shortstop and third base, and he's been doing a lot of that.'"
"He's been playing some outfield as well," Williams continued. "'So he's had some reps at second, so he can give us a little bit there, too. We can certainly spell (Ian Desmond) with Danny if we need to and Zach can play second. He's got some games in there.
"'He's swinging the bat really well. He's on a 13-game hitting streak, so we want to get him reps certainly. With the lefty today, of course, Danny is back in there. So we'll see what the coming days give us. But Zach's been playing really well.'"
"I'm not sure what Matt has in store for him right now," Rizzo told 106.7 the FAN in D.C.'s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier yesterday.
"He is a very capable player. You saw the early flashes when he got here to the big leagues. He can create some damage and he's a toolsy player that's got power from both sides and has played a lot of second base down there in Triple-A. When we sent him back down that was part of our plan. He's kind of split his time down in Triple-A [between] third, short and second, but because second base was his least-familiar position, so we've kind of had him concentrating on that.
"He's a versatile player and he's played the outfield in the big leagues before, so, Matt will get him at bats as he sees fit, but we're going to go with the regular rotation that we've had when Zim was down before and when we had a couple of other injuries."
Rizzo also downplayed the need to make a trade to compensate for what appears like it will be the second extended stretch on the DL for Zimmerman, who missed 44 games earlier this season after fracturing his right thumb in a mid-April game in Atlanta, Georgia's Turner Field.
"'We’re not worried about filling Zim’s shoes, which would be almost impossible to fill in a trade scenario, anyways,'" Rizzo told the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore yesterday. "'We like the team we have. We got where we’re at with Danny playing meaningful innings.'"
Can Zach Walters force his way into a more significant role?