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Nationals put Bryce Harper back in center with Denard Span sitting today...

Washington Nationals' outfielder Bryce Harper will be patrolling the vast expanse in center field in Marlins Park today when the Nats take on the Fish in the second game of three in Miami. Denard Span gets a day off...

By Patrick Reddington
Sarah Glenn/Getty Images

Washington Nationals' skipper Matt Williams was asked earlier this week about getting some of the bench players at bats and making sure that some of the players who have recently come off the DL like Jayson Werth and Denard Span get the rest they need since they didn't have the usual ramp up throughout Spring Training.

"[Werth is] going to have to have an occasional day," Williams said. "He didn't have Spring Training, if you will, so he goes through that regular Spring Training-type soreness, and it's even a little more monumental, because it's been condensed."

"[Werth is] going to have to have an occasional day. He didn't have Spring Training, if you will, so he goes through that regular Spring Training-type soreness..." -Matt Williams on resting Jayson Werth

Clint Robinson got the nod in the series finale with St. Louis, with Werth given a day of rest in what ended up being a 4-1 loss to the Cardinals.

Williams was asked about Nationals' center fielder and leadoff man Denard Span potentially sitting too, since the start of the 31-year-old outfielder's 2015 campaign was delayed by the second surgical procedure of the winter, which took care of a right core muscle injury suffered just months after he needed surgery for a sports hernia.

"Denard was able to do more," Williams explained.

"He was able to do more things. So he got all of his running in. He got all of his hitting in. All of that. We'll look to give him a day here and there, too, but it's a little bit different situation."

With Michael Taylor optioned to Triple-A when Span returned, Williams was asked who would play center when Span did actually sit?

"Harp," he said, referring, of course, to Nationals' outfielder Bryce Harper. "We have to play [Harper] there on those days, sure."

"Denard was able to do more. He was able to do more things. So he got all of his running in. He got all of his hitting in. All of that." -Matt Williams on occasionally resting Denard Span

And who takes over in right with Harper in center and Span on the bench? Would Werth return to right after the Nats decided to move him over to left field this winter?

"Depends on the day," Williams told reporters. "Depends on who we're going to put out there. Clint [Robinson] has the ability to play right as well, he did that in Spring Training. It depends, on who we're facing, where we're at, all those factors."

Today, it's Reed Johnson getting the start in right field, his first of the year in right and second start overall.

Here's the Nationals' lineup for the second game of three for the Nats in Miami:

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