Revere is back! Washington Nationals reinstate Ben Revere; option Matt den Dekker to Triple-A

Ben Revere was two plate appearances into his time atop the Washington Nationals' batting order when he suffered an oblique injury which led to the 28-year-old outfielder landing on the DL.

Revere was reinstated from the Disabled List this afternoon in time for the second game of the Nationals' four-game series with the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field.

Acquired to play center and lead off for the Nationals, the veteran outfielder went down with the oblique injury in the season opener in Atlanta.

Revere played five games for the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs as he rehabbed from the issue, going 3 for 16 for the Nats' top Minor League affiliate before he was called back up to the majors today.

Dusty Baker talked to reporters in Kansas City on Wednesday about what Revere brings to the lineup.

"We have speed on the bases but we just haven’t been able to get the speed on the bases," Baker said, as quoted by Washington Post writer James Wagner:

"So we hope that Ben – not to put pressure on Ben – that he’s not spring training ready. We need him to come in and hopefully be ready to play like he can play. We think we’ve given him ample time to get some ABs down there. You don’t know. You never know. Hopefully he can come in and do his thing."

Having Revere back, Baker explained, would give the Nationals a spark at the top of the order:

"He’s our igniter," Baker said. "That’s why we brought him here as a leadoff man to start our engine. We were mixing and matching at leadoff but none have the experience or the knowledge and the track record that Ben Revere has. He’s gonna add another dimension to our team and our offense than what we’ve got going on now."

Revere rejoined the team in Chicago on Thursday, but Baker told reporters before the game that they were waiting another day to reinstate the reliever from the Disabled List.

"He looked pretty good," Baker said after watching Revere work out.

"He looked very good actually. So we're going to wait and try to make an evaluation tomorrow, see if he's sore or see how he came out of this, but right now it looks like he looks pretty good. Looks very good"

"I don't want to bring him out tonight," he continued. "It's kind of cool out there, in a night game. He's been in Syracuse, New York, but we just wanted to wait. And you know how I am, kind of, I'd rather wait an extra day, especially because I've seen too many guys say, 'Im ready' and then they come back and they do it again. So hopefully he doesn't injure himself again for the rest of the year."

Revere told reporters in Chicago that he's healthy and ready to go:

Revere fired up to be back, said he's going "all-out" from get-go, says his job is "get a hit, steal second, score a run."

— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) May 6, 2016

Ben Revere: "I just want to hit the ball on the ground, get on first, steal second, and score."

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) May 6, 2016

Revere obviously excited to be back. Called this his second opening day. Says he always heats up after his birthday (May 3), so away we go

— Dan Kolko (@masnKolko) May 6, 2016

Revere is atop the lineup for the second game of four with the Cubs:

Lining up at the Friendly Confines for a 2:20 PM ET start against the Cubs. pic.twitter.com/jVcN7CxExb

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 6, 2016