Washington Nationals' Jayson Werth To Have Precautionary MRI On Right Ankle.

There wasn't much information about Jayson Werth before last night's game other than the announcement via the Nationals' official Twitter account (@NationalsPR) that the 33-year-old outfielder had been scratched just before the game with a sore right ankle. After the win in San Francisco, Werth spoke to members of the press, including the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore, who reported that the outfielder left AT&T Park last night wearing a "bulky walking boot" on the ankle. Davey Johnson told reporters after last night's win that Werth would have an MRI this morning, though Werth was quoted by the WaPost's Mr. Kilgore describing the procedure as "totally precautionary." The Nats' skipper talked about Werth's ankle in the post game interview last night.

"Jayson Werth has had this injury to his ankle in the Spring," Johnson said, explaining that it's a problem the veteran outfielder has dealt with before, "and he feels like this is just another Spring Training for him and I think he's going to get an MRI in the morning just to double check, but hopefully he'll be all right."

Werth sat out of Sunday's series finale with the D-Backs, and there was no mention of the ankle issue at the time, but Johnson said he had seen signs of a problem in a pinch hit appearance in that game. "I'm concerned," the manager said when asked how worried he was, "He's been playing great. When I heard that he had a little problem, and I saw it [Sunday] night, when he pinch hit and he ran to first he was kind of limping when he went through the bag. I was hoping it was nothing and then it popped up again today it was still sore. So, hopefully it's something that in a day or so he's fine. I didn't want to play him today [hoping] that he'd be okay to go [Tuesday] because I'd like him to play [Tuesday]."

Johnson said that it's something that's cropped up with Werth before in Spring Training, and since he's still working his way back into shape after a couple months on the DL with a broken wrist, neither the manager or outfielder seemed too concerned. More info when it's available.