Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Nationals have been playing a spectacular brand of baseball over the last three weeks. In fact, the Nationals have the best record in MLB since April 28. The way the team has done it has been quite surprising. Coming into the 2015 season, the Nationals were expected to be a club that would win with great pitching and good defense, but it has been the offense that has been carrying the team. That offense has been dealt a bit of a blow, as three-hole hitter, Jayson Werth, is headed to the disabled list with a bad bruise on his left wrist, the same wrist he broke in 2012. For some reason that is beyond my understanding, the Nationals have decided to call up one of their top prospects in Wilmer Difo, a guy who hasn’t played higher than Double-A, to take Werth’s spot on the 25-man roster.
Difo is a middle infield prospect who can play both second base and shortstop. He is the seventh-ranked prospect in the Nationals’ minor league system and has made strides over the last year or two in his game that took him from a fringe prospect to a legitimate MLB candidate. Difo’s biggest attribute is his blinding speed, and that could be one of the biggest reasons why the Nationals chose to call him up, as the club currently ranks No. 28 in MLB with only 10 stolen bases. As a hitter, Difo makes a lot of contact, but he isn’t exactly a patient hitter who takes his walks; currently, he has nine walks in 127 at-bats in the minor leagues. Defensively, Difo has to make a good bit of improvement before he is ready to be an everyday major league player.
Difo is still extremely raw in many aspects, and bringing him to major leagues now doesn’t make sense for many reasons. More than likely, Difo is not going to be anything but a late-game pinch-runner, and beginning his service clock to have him sit on the Nationals’ bench for 15 days instead of playing every day in the minor leagues, where he can continue to progress his game, is an extremely irresponsible decision by Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo.
Jason Fletcher is a MLB Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JasonFletcher25, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google+.
