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US Presswire photo Tyler Moore will join the Nationals in time for today's game against the Dodgers. |
LOS ANGELES -- One day after Bryce Harper made his ballyhooed debut, the Nationals are promoting another top prospect out of necessity.
First baseman/left fielder Tyler Moore has been recalled from Class AAA Syracuse and will be available to make his big-league debut in today's series finale against the Dodgers. Moore will take the roster spot held by veteran Mark DeRosa, who is being placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left oblique muscle.
Moore, 25, has been the Nationals' best power-hitting prospect for more than two seasons, having clubbed 31 homers at Class A Potomac in 2010 and 31 more homers at Class AA Harrisburg in 2011. He was off to another hot start this season at Syracuse, compiling seven homers in his first 22 games.
A natural first baseman, the right-handed Moore recently began seeing time in left field, evidence the Nationals were considering a promotion and needing to find a spot for him in their lineup.
DeRosa was off to a dismal start, with only three hits in 37 at-bats, but the veteran utilityman said he only began feeling something in his left side in the last few days. He felt more of a twinge before last night's game while working on outfield drills, then felt even more during batting practice.
"I knew it was bothering me, but nothing that scared me off," he said. "And then when I went to try to take BP, that's when I hurt it pretty good. It's a great start to the season for the Nationals, a horrible start for me."
The 37-year-old is scheduled to have an MRI tomorrow in Washington, but he understands he's probably going to miss significant time with an injury that typically heals only with rest.
DeRosa missed most of the last two seasons with a wrist injury that required three surgeries. Finally healthy this spring, he was perhaps the Nationals' best hitter in Grapefruit League play and believed he was going to return to form.
"It's just frustrating because you work so hard," he said. "They tell you the older you are, the harder you've got to work. I've come back from major injuries. My body won't give me a break, for whatever reason. ...
"This whole thing is frustrating. The whole start to the year has been frustrating. The whole last 2 1/2 years have been frustrating. But I'll deal with it and get back. We're in first place, we're playing well. That's all that matters."
31 comments:
New posted, so repeating my last post below, in answer to Peric.
Kilgore says Harper will play CF today, Nady in LF, Werth in RF. Fascinating.
Peric, I know he's a 1B. And I have commented in the past that the idea that he could become a MLB outfielder after a few sessions with Bo Porter seemed silly. You'll note that in my comment my preference that Harper get a shot to play full time. But if Rizzo is bringing Moore up to replace DeRosa on the roster, and with LaRoche playing the best baseball of his career, don't you think he might very well see some time in LF against a LHP? Would Rizzo bring him up just to have him pinch hit?
Lots of folks love to disparage the Dodger fans for leaving early. People leave baseball games early all the time, in DC as much as anywhere. Get over it. No one is required to stay for an over 3 hour game if they don't want to. The Dodgers sold out last night's game, perhaps because of the debut of another team's phenom. That's amazing and praiseworthy, regardless of their behavior. How many sellouts have we had this year so far. One. Maybe we'll get close during the Phillies' series, but that will be because of Phillies fans despite the big push to take back Our Park. We're a long ways away from having a fan base anywhere near as big as the Dodgers (3.6 million in 2010, 2.9 million last year).
Boy njack that nady derosa roger chad bench is strong what an improvement
Section 222,
But if Rizzo is bringing Moore up to replace DeRosa on the roster, and with LaRoche playing the best baseball of his career, don't you think he might very well see some time in LF against a LHP? Would Rizzo bring him up just to have him pinch hit?
I think you're seeing the harbinger of the future today. Harper in CF with Moore in left. And that could end up as the starting lineup every day if both Harper and Moore hit. Ankiel really is still Ankiel, hits a homer every once in a while but lives close to the Mendoza line for the most part.
Today looks like Nady's last chance ... because historically Johnson prefers to go with youth, the prospects and likes to replace underperforming veterans with minor league standouts.
The polar opposite of Riggleman ... who would stick with them through thick and thin and .200 batting averages (see Harris, Willie). And DeRosa was Johnson's idea, his guy! This is way different from Riggleman. Johnson wants to win. Riggleman wanted to respect the game and the veterans and disrespect the fans. Hope that DC traitor is having fun with the Blue Wahoos.
Can't re-post on this baby computer, but does anyone know what happened with the intentional walk that Clipp started to issue before Davey came out and told him to pitch (after he had already thrown one "walk" pitch), thereby ticking off Mattingly? Miscommunications always bother me.
NatsLady - The third base umpire called Time before the pitch was thrown so they ruled the pitch didn't count. Not sure what made the umpire call Time.
I suspect Natslady that Johnson decided that Clip was "on" last night. As you previously observed ...
And, no, its not yet time to stop the Clip headed for the DL (with a real injury not contrived) watch. Remember Cole Kimball.
You could be right Peric, against LHP at least. I don't see Ankiel losing his job altogether. But didn't you just say with some disdain to my comment that Moore is a 1B, not a LF? If today is Nady's last chance, I guess you agree that Moore could see time in LF, at least against LHP. So I convinced you. Excellent. Thanks.
Let's get some runs for Geo. JHopefully geo will keep his pitch count down, as I would like him to go all the way in less than 100 pitches.
Just for the record Nats starters are 3rd,5th,8th,10th and 32nd in ERA. With that kind of starting pitching we should be and are in first place.
But didn't you just say with some disdain to my comment that Moore is a 1B, not a LF?
Not disdain. Sorry if it came across like that. He's just started learning the position. He's actually more athletic than he was last season due to spending a lot of time this past offseason working on his speed and agility with personal trainers.
So, its not like the disasters the Nats had when they tried Marerro and Bloxom at different positions in the minors. But Moore is definitely not ready for the major leagues in left field ... yet. He is still a first baseman. Its going to take a good bit of time for him to learn left field. Its still very much a work in progress that has barely gotten started. If he is to play left field he was likely brought up too early. His bat may be major league ready but the glove is not. And, again, that's not to say it never will be.
So? Instead of "platooning" perhaps we see him get double-swtiched early in games for an outfielder ... who knows what Davey has planned ... but clearly he desperately wants some bats.
Mark, thanks for the link to the Harper pictures! Showed he was totally ignoring that fan that ran onto the field.
Also, I don't know if you all got to see it in the booth, but there was a point last night in the OF, that Bryce seemed to be really taking it all in. Kind of a nice thing to see the kid getting a chance to appreciate the moment.
I wonder what the undisclosed injury is with DeRosa? Hammy tweak? I just hope it's not the wrist.
Bryce's family and many friends were there to see him ... I'm glad he did well.
Team Stats Nats lead in pitching, 4th in fielding, and 14th in hitting (Eck is on my radar as he is every year) Mystery to me why he is still here. Been a mystery for three years now.
Final stat for the day
Starters 130.1 innings 25 ERs 1.73 ERA
Bullpen 62.2 innings 25 ER 3.59 ERA
Same amount of earned runs in less than half the time.
Seems like someone is not carryuing their weight.
We all know the hitters aren't carrying their collective weight. Hope harper inspires some of the dead weight to start playing. LARoche is doing great.
Despite the many not carying their weight the team is in first. Just imagine how good they would be if everyone did a fair share.
I. Desmond
S. Lombardozzi 3B
J. Werth RF
A. LaRoche
X. Nady LF
D. Espinosa 2B
B. Harper CF
J. Flores C
G. Gonzalez
Pirates ta a 2-0 lead over Atl.
Moore needs to get a chance out there in LF. It is not a hard position to play, even with little experience out there. How many "tough" plays to you really see in LF. Not many, especially with our pitching staff. The idea of sitting him on the bench because of his lack of experience as an OF just doesn't fly. He is a professional baseball player and I'm sure he will be just fine out there.
F&I: It sure does bring energy..Harper last night had the fans juiced up..Nady gets another chance because of that one HR he hit that squeaked over the fence and won the game...how did the LF not come down with that one?
Markakis shows off the arm
Sure is nice to have something to be excited about in addition to the great pitchers. I thought bringing up Harper would inspire some of the non-performing hitters but it didn't happen yesterday. I don't blame Davey for bringing up bats. I'm sorry Rendon is injured as he is supposed to be a better pure hitter than Harper. And he may be a bit more mature since he was drafted from college so perhaps a better call-up than Moore at this time. I sure hope he gets to have a major league debut someday. His injury history is not encouraging.
Still puzzled about Moore. He has played all of 4 games in left field.
Confirmed reports suggest that DeRosa has been diagnosed with a hitting disability.
Peric said re: Riggelman: Hope that DC traitor is having fun with the Blue Wahoos.
Yesterday Phil wood said he velieves Riggs will be manging the Reds pretty soon unles they start winning..friend of the GM..don't agree with what Riggs did but it seems to have worked out best for everyone
Markakis shows off the arm
Please take that to an Orioles blog. Thank you.
If his bat's good enough, I don't have a problem with Moore in left. Before last night, Nats LFers had a combined .093 BA, had driven in zero runs. That's so far below the Mendoza line that you need a plane ticket to get there. Harper topped that his first game. If Moore can hit just .230 with a little power, he could be playing with a hatchet out there and he'd still be a net plus for the team.
Remember Adam Dunn? He played left almost his entire career before coming to DC, and it was truly an ugly sight to behold. But 40 HR a year makes up for a lot of deficiencies in the least demanding outfield position.
peric spelled backwards is pronounced crap
Thank you..I'll be here all week
"JayB said...
Boy njack that nady derosa roger chad bench is strong what an improvement
April 29, 2012 1:19 PM "
Let's recall what happened the last time JayB came on here to disparage the bench. My prediction for today's game:
Goon Squad 2, JayB 0
Kind of sad. I think the Nats' last bench player who could be trusted against both RH and LH pitching was Hairston, Jr. Anybody understanding the back story behind that trade? It's not like they got anything worthwhile in return. And it wasn't like they were pushing for the playoffs.
Fear and Ignorance, You are just flat out wrong about LF not being hard to play. A left hander has the same slice on the ball to LF that a right hander has on on late swings to RF. Granted, it's the easiest outfield position because you don't have to make the long throw that a RF'er has to. One can learn to play an okay left field, but like any of the outfield positions, the great players are born with a radar that isn't a learned thing. They just "know" where the ball is going from the crack of the bat. Josh Willingham can play left from now until the cows come home and he will still suck.And trust me, the ball has a way of "finding" the inexperienced outfielder. Ask Cristian Guzman. I've also seen more then a couple of guys hurt their arms from making the long throw that they aren't used to. It always amazes me how people that have never played the game think that anybody can play the OF.
A present day example of an OF'er that will possibly lose you more then he will win is Duda for the Mets. He has helped us beat the Mets at least three times with miss-played balls that were not ruled errors.But he knocks the snot out of the ball.
I just heard that Moore will start today and Werth is sitting.
Somehow "Best 25 Go North" hasn't translated into "Best 8 On The Field."
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