For Danny Espinosa, the power comes from the left

If I asked you before the season who would be leading the Nationals in homers through the first 30 games, the overwhelming answer would've been Bryce Harper. But if I asked which Nationals player would have the second most, not one single person would've guessed Danny Espinosa.

However, that's exactly where the 28-year-old Espinosa stands after belting out his third and fourth long balls, both to the opposite field, in last night's 9-2 rout of the Braves. It's the third time in Espinosa's six-year career he's hit two homers in a game.

"It felt good. It felt clean, just on-time. I just felt comfortable," Espinosa said.

Espinosa has proved that he has plenty of power, knocking 21 homers in 2011 and 17 more in 2012. So the surprise isn't that the ball is leaving the park, it's that Espinosa has been given the opportunity just to step to the plate.

Espinosa's struggles are well-documented. He hit a dismal .199 in 158 games across the last two seasons. Last year, Espinosa had 97 strikeouts in 249 at-bats and hit just .183 from the left side of the plate. However, as a right-handed hitter, he produced three home runs and 10 RBIs while batting .301. The career numbers reflect similar results. He owns a lifetime .213 batting average as a left-handed hitter facing right-handed pitching versus a .271 average from the right side against left-handers.

So the team asked Espinosa to scrap switch-hitting during the offseason, and he spent his entire spring learning to adjust to batting right-handed exclusively. That seemed to be the Nats' plan until Espinosa dug in from the left side of the batter's box in his first game of the season on April 11 in Philadelphia. He ripped a double that night and went deep at Fenway hitting lefty two days later.

"Every day now, he's taking batting practice left-handed," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "So it's not like he's still staying that way. It's been more under control and taking what they're giving him. Base hits and then if he can gets a chance to get a ball up in the zone that he can hit well, he does."

The absence of Anthony Rendon due to a sprained left MCL and now a strained left oblique has opened the door for Espinosa to find more playing time. It wasn't even a certainty that Espinosa would find a roster spot as spring progressed. Newcomer Yunel Escobar was expected to take over as the starter at second and three-time All-Star Dan Uggla had found his dangerous bat during the Grapefruit League season.

But with Rendon's injury, Escobar moved to third and Williams decided to go with a platoon of Uggla and Espinosa at second base. But Uggla started opening day and every game of the Nats' first series. Since then, it's been Espinosa who's been getting the call more frequently on Williams' lineup card.

All four of Espinosa's home runs have come from the left side against a right-handed pitcher where he's hitting .233 in 65 at-bats. Facing southpaws from the right side, Espinosa is 5-for-15 (.333) with a double.

"I'm just trying not to do too much, just trying to stay within myself," Espinosa said. "I'm just trying not to overthink things, stay in rhythm, hit what's given to me and not try to create something. Really just trying to stay within myself."

Despite focusing his whole spring on right-handed hitting, Espinosa somehow managed to work on his left-handed swing on the side. Williams says he taking a shorter path to the baseball.

Harper, who's reaping the success of a quieter approach at the plate, can see the difference with Espinosa as well.

"Yeah, I mean Danny's so good," he said. "If he's on time, if he's doing the things that he's doing, if he's calm, he's a great hitter. He's a lot of fun to watch. He can hit the ball with power to left, right, center. I mean, he's a great second baseman, a Gold Glove second baseman. I think everyone knows that. So if he keeps doing what he's doing, it's a lot of fun to watch and hopefully he'll be in there a couple more times."