Washington Nationals Place Wilson Ramos On DL; Recall C Jhonatan Solano

Washington Nationals' manager Davey Johnson was talking about third baseman Ryan Zimmerman's throwing issues in Saturday's post game press conference when he told reporters that his real concern after the second straight loss to the Atlanta Braves was the health of 25-year-old Nats' catcher Wilson Ramos. "I think he's got a pulled hammy and that's generally -- we'll wait and see tomorrow -- but that's generally a couple of weeks, at least," Johnson said. Ramos injured his hamstring running out a groundout late in the game and was replaced behind the plate by Kurt Suzuki.

"It's a pretty deep pull and we'll see how he comes out of it tomorrow," the Nationals' manager added, "but we'll probably have to get somebody in here." The team announced this morning that they had indeed been forced to make a move, recalling 27-year-old catcher Jhonatan Solano from Triple-A Syracuse and placing Ramos on the DL with a left hamstring strain. Johnson lamented the fact that Ramos, who worked his way back from surgery to repair a torn ACL and meniscus suffered last summer had another setback. "[He's] playing very well," the 70-year-old skipper said, "and hits the ball hard, tries to leg it out and pulls a hammy."

In six games and 23 plate appearances this season, Ramos has a .300/.391/.600 line with two home runs, three walks and one strikeout. According to reports from Nationals Park this morning, including the one below from the Washington Times' Amanda Comak, Nats' GM Mike Rizzo told reporters that Ramos will likely only miss 15 days:

#nats GM Mike Rizzo said Ramos' hamstring strain is not too serious but not something team wants to push. Hopeful he'll only need 15 days

— Amanda Comak (@acomak) April 14, 2013

Jhonatan Solano played 12 games with the NL East Champion Nationals in 2012, posting a .314/.351/.571 line with three doubles and two home runs in 12 games and 37 PAs as the Nats suffered a number of injuries to their catching corps. Solano's 2013 campaign started at Triple-A Syracuse, where the Barranquilla, Atlantico, Columbia-born backstop is 3 for 20 in five games with the Chiefs before being called up to D.C. for today's game.

Kurt Suzuki will be starting this afternoon when the Nationals take on the Atlanta Braves in the finale of the three-game set in the nation's capital. The 28-year-old former Oakland A's catcher acquired last August in a post-trade deadline deal has a .231/.444/.615 line in six games and 19 PAs so far this season.