A Few Good Men: 20 - Hairston Jr.

Jerry Hairston Jr - Age 35 - 11 years MLB Service

How he became a Nat: Signed a 1 year contract for $2 million dollars this past off-season. He was traded to Milwaukee on July 30th for minor-league OF Eric Komatsu.

The Raw Numbers:
Avg - .268
OPS - .727
WAR - 0.5
SO % - 11.6

Positions played - 5 (CF, LF, 3B, SS, 2B) in addition to pinch-hitting and pinch-running. He gave the Nats (and later the Brew Crew) a ton of versatility and veteran leadership. By filling in for Zim, spelling Espi, and taking semi-platooning in left and centerfield, he proved to be quite valuable to the ballclub.

Best game: April 19th against the team he would be traded to later that year, the Brewers. Jerry went 3 for 3 with a HR, a 2B, 2 runs scored, an RBI and a Walk. He played both third-base and left field that day. Honorable mention to June 17th against the rival O's, flip the HR to a double and he had almost the same performance.

Worst Game: April 13th against the Phillies. He struck out in each of his 3 ABs before being lifted for a PH (Matt Stairs, who also struck out), once with a runner in scoring position. The Nats lost a heartbreaker 3-2 to Roy Halladay and the Phils.

Capball Grade: C: He filled in admirably for Zim and gave the Nats some valuable innings at quite a few positions. But he was decidedly average in almost every facet of the game. Sub-zero dWAR and nothing spectacular at the plate, the Nats were lucky to get a semi-prospect in return for someone who was always going to be a rental player. He has an Alex Cora-esque future, perhaps breaking into coaching sooner rather than later.

2012 Nats Status: How about no. The Nats are getting younger and have a glut of 4th outfielders and three young studs around the infield who will play all the games they can handle in 2012.

25 in 25: Jerry Hairston (#20)

In 6 days, all the Nationals diehards will be preparing to head to Nationals Park on Opening Day. Until then, we're going to predict the 25 man roster. With one catch. We're going to do it one day at a time. This way, we can provide more in depth thoughts on who we think is going to make the roster, why we think so, and what to expect from them in 2011. On the morning of Opening Day, we'll post the real 25-man compared with what we predicted.

Today's edition is 13-year veteran and 2nd generation MLBer, Jerry Hairston.

Why? Off the bat the first draw for a player like Hairston is his veteran presence in the clubhouse. Next up is his versatility, over his career he has seen time at every single position except for pitcher and catcher. It has already been announced by Riggleman that the switch-hitting Hairston will be the starting Center Fielder against left-handed pitchers; as Bernadina, Morgan, and Ankiel are all left-handed. His leadership, attitude, and versatility has earned him a spot on this team.

What should you expect? Quality leadership and above-average defense in the field. This is, once again, a defensive-minded ballclub under Mike Rizzo, and Hairston fills that role to a T. He has posted a very high UZR in every position except for 1B and 3B, where I think we are covered with Adam LaRoche and Gold Glover, Ryan Zimmerman.

At the plate is another story, he will not light the world on fire by any stretch of the imagination. A career .257 hitter, Hairston has hit below that each of the past two seasons but is just three years removed from a .326 campaign in 2008. Look for something around a .260 average and .330 OBP.