Tuesday, September 7, 2010

My Love Affair with Danny Espinosa

(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Danny Espinosa's mark in the major leagues certainly couldn't have been anticipated.  While he had an incredible minor league season, no one could predict what was coming in his first 5 major league games.

Espinosa has made an incredible run to make it to the majors in 2010. He was just drafted in 2008 and signed at the deadline in August.  Espinosa started in AA Harrisburg and worked his way up to AAA Syracuse in the same season.  As MLB's extended roster day came on September 1st, Espinosa was immediately promoted.  Yes, that's two levels in just one season.  And yes, he made an astonishingly quick impact.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Danny Espinosa is the first player in major league history to have "at least two home runs and six RBI in one of his first five MLB games."  One of those home runs just happen to be a Grand Slam. 

His first week in the majors has been nothing short of Strasmas-sy.  The hype is there, and people are ready to see Espinosa (23 years old) and Desmond (24 years old) shore up the Nationals middle of the infield for many years.  For those wondering, Desmond is now hitting a cool .289 on the year.  He's hitting .346 since the All Star break.  Unfortunately, Desmond is battling a problem with his left hamstring, but hopefully he'll return soon.  Espinosa... hitting a clearly unsustainable .563 in his 16 at bats.

In the meantime, though, Espinosa will surely get lots of opportunities to play at shortstop to show everyone what he was capable of.  One thing is for sure.  Even with Desmond's 31 errors this year, if he and Espinosa can hit anywhere near .300 on the season in future years, fielding errors will be quickly forgotten.

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