For Moore, hole-in-one follows hot streak at plate

VIERA, Fla. - By now you're aware that Tyler Moore's bat is as hot as anybody's around spring training from Jupiter, Fla. to Mesa, Ariz. "In the zone" is one of those cliché sports phrases that gets thrown around far too often these day, but for Moore it may actually apply after his remarkable spring extended from the baseball diamond to the golf course on Wednesday night.

Yes, the golf course.

The Nationals held a team bonding Par 3 event at Duran Golf Club on Wednesday. The lighted golf course is about a Bubba Watson drive away from Space Coast Stadium. Moore, grouped with Bryce and Bryan Harper, pulled off the unlikeliest of golf shots. Standing on tee box 67 yards away from the pin on the short course, Moore opted for a putter. That's right a putter. He reared back and gave the ball a whack. It bounded up and down like a sharply hit ground ball over the pitchers' mound, and 201 feet later ended up in the hole, causing pandemonium among his teammates.

"That was my first hole-in-one with a putter," Moore said holding back laughter. "I don't (know) what happened there. I just kind, you know, blacked out for a minute. My team was really excited for me, so it was a fun time."

Remarkable.

Not hard to believe though after watching Moore's performance through the first eight games of the exhibition season. The 28-year-old is batting .500 (8-for-16) with a home run, a triple, four doubles and seven RBIs.

"I just feel good at the plate. I'm really just trying to slow the game down and I kind of got a new approach of just trying not to move a whole lot at the plate, not trying to do a whole lot and just really seeing the ball a whole lot better and it's paid off," Moore said.

Moore attributes some of his recent success to his decision to play in the Dominican Republic for seven weeks during the offseason. There, he was able to hit against many hard-throwing pitchers he wasn't familiar with. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo agrees.

"Kind of a continuation of the winter ball season he had," said Rizzo. "He played extremely well down there. He's shown flashes up in the past at the big league level and we think that maybe he's turned the corner and is a guy we can count on that can give us good at-bats from the right side."

It's well documented at this point that Moore is out of minor league options with the Nationals, putting extra emphasis on this spring for him and his ballclub. Moore's versatility to play first base and the outfield certainly emphasizes his value to a team that's unsure of when starters Jayson Werth and Denard Span will be available as they recover from surgeries.

"You hate guys going down, but at the same time, guys in the locker room are going to have to step up and keep the thing going," Moore said. "You hate for it to happen, but at the same time it's going to open up opportunities."

It's hard to see at this current pace how Moore wouldn't find himself on the Nats roster with opening day barely three weeks away.

By the way, Danny Espinosa's group ended up winning the Par 3 tournament.

"He wasn't even going to play and then he decided to play at the last minute and he ended up winning the whole thing," said Moore. "They had a stroke of luck with him. He got some money for a razor."

Duran has been a magnet for holes-in-one from Nationals. Several years ago, reliever Tyler Clippard pulled off the same feat at the nearby course.