Anthony Rendon could provide "jolt" for scuffling Nats' offense

After steamrolling through the West Coast a few weeks ago, the Nationals' offense seemed to be developing into a juggernaut. The Nationals won five of seven on that swing, hitting .312 as a team and scoring an eye-popping 53 runs. But the offense has been more of eyesore since. The untimely hitting from the early season has returned as have some slumps for key producers in the middle of the lineup. The Nats are batting just .223 with 39 runs scored while splitting the last 14 games since returning from San Diego.

The top of the Nats' lineup has been without Jayson Werth throughout most of this stretch as he sits on the disabled list with a fractured left wrist. Werth wasn't his normal productive self while still gaining his timing after missing most of spring training recovering from shoulder surgery. But his bat was just starting to heat up out west before the setback, and he was still considered a dangerous hitter in the three-spot.

Like Werth, 11-year veteran Ryan Zimmerman had a slow start to the season. But in San Diego, he battled to get his batting average up to a season-high mark of .248 while also landing in the top five in the National League in RBIs. In his 15 games since, Zimmerman is hitting just .148 (8-for-54) with seven RBIs.

Wilson Ramos was also swinging a hot bat at one point, reaching 19 straight games in the majors' longest hitting streak this season. However, since that stretch ended, Ramos is only 4-for-37 (.108) with two RBIs in his last 10 games.

With Bryce Harper leading the majors in on-base percentage (.471), sitting right in front of Zimmerman and Ramos, the Nats offense hasn't been reaping the benefits lately.

When the Nationals' bats were scuffling to start the season, there was a lot of clubhouse chatter about how the then-approaching return of Anthony Rendon would provide a spark. Just before Rendon was seemingly scheduled to join the team, recovered from a left knee sprain, he suffered another setback with a strained oblique. A day later, Dan Uggla hit the three-run homer to complete the improbable comeback in Atlanta and suddenly the offense took off on a tear.

Maybe Rendon will provide that spark now. It appears the 24-year-old Silver Slugger is nearing his return to Nats Park, possibly as soon as this weekend's series with the Cubs. Rendon was 2-for-7 with a double playing for Double-A Harrisburg in a doubleheader yesterday.

"Hopefully, Rendon will get back pretty soon and give us a little jolt in this lineup," Harper said. "We'll get going. We got a great team and everybody knows that. So we'll get hot and ride it out."

Rendon finished fifth in National League MVP voting last season, slashing .287/.351/.473 with 21 homers, 83 RBIs and a league-high 111 runs scored.

"The way he played last year, the kind of hitter he is ... he does a lot of things well for us," Nationals manager Matt Williams said of Rendon. "So it makes us longer. It gives us good on-base percentage. It gives us a guy that can hit the ball the other way well. He can move the baseball. He's got some power, we all know that. So whenever that is, he'll certainly help us."

Meanwhile, Werth spoke yesterday for the first time since it was revealed that he had fractures in his left wrist resulting from the fastball that struck him in San Diego. The 35-year-old veteran has undergone three previous surgeries on the wrist after breaking it two separate times in his career. He explained that his previous medical history led him to wait for a CT scan at the Mayo Clinic after earlier X-rays and an MRI proved negative.

"Because of the metal and the pins and the screws that already in there, you don't know if the CT scan is gonna actually take," Werth said. "So I didn't want to have to get multiple CT scans just cause of all the X-rays and MRIs and CT scans and all the stuff I've had in the past. At some point, I think you start glowing."

The Nationals hope Werth will be ready to go by August for the stretch run.

"It's one of those things," Werth said. "Guys get injured. Guys go on the DL. Things happen in this game. You take your hits. You play with injuries. You try to be out there as much as you can, and sometimes you can't. Obviously it's frustrating and it's the last place I want to be. The good news is as soon as it heals, I should be back and be ready to go."