For Harrison, versatility is the name of the game

Josh Harrison has been an everyday player. From 2014-17, he took an average of 516 plate appearances for the Pirates and managed to earn two All-Star selections and even a ninth-place finish in National League MVP voting.

Harrison's true value, though, lies in his ability to do what most others in baseball cannot do: play multiple positions well while still providing a quality bat. Which means the 33-year-old is more valuable to a club not when he's in the lineup daily, but when he's coming off the bench and when he's available to do whatever is needed of him on any given day.

And that's exactly why the Nationals wanted to bring him back after he joined the team shortly after the abbreviated 2020 season commenced.

"I'm ready to go whenever called upon," he said recently in a Zoom session with reporters. "I know Davey (Martinez) and the rest of the staff knows that I'm just here helping any way that I can, ready to win."

Harrison was a pleasant addition to the Nats last summer. Let go by the Phillies right before opening day, he was near the end of a long drive home to Cincinnati with his family when he got the call to get to Washington as soon as possible.

He would wind up playing in 33 of the Nationals' 60 games, batting .278 with a career-best .352 on-base percentage and .769 OPS. He did so while playing five different positions in the field: second base (12 games), third base (10), left field (five), right field (two) and first base (one).

(That one inning spent at first Sept. 11 vs. the Braves represented the one and only time he played the position in his 10-year career. He didn't even own his own first baseman's mitt; he was forced to borrow one from Howie Kendrick.)

Harrison has also played shortstop (22 games) in his big league career, and he says he can play center field (though he's never done it in a major league game). He even faced one batter as an emergency pitcher in 2013: the Rockies' Corey Dickerson, who flied out to deep left field late in a 10-1 rout at Coors Field.

What about catcher? That's where he insists he draws the line.

"I'm with them in spirit," he said, "but not physically."

At his core, though, Harrison is an infielder. That's where he's seen most of his playing time, both in the past and so far this spring at Nationals camp. At some point, Martinez does want to start getting him some reps in left field because he could give Kyle Schwarber some days off against tough lefties.

But Martinez's trickiest task will be striking the right balance with Harrison (and others on the Nats bench). How many starts a week should he get? This is a team that wants to have a fairly set daily lineup. But it's difficult for bench players to develop a rhythm at the plate when they never start a game.

"I think he needs to get at-bats to stay fresh, stay good," Martinez said. "You can't sit these guys down for two weeks, and all of a sudden put him in the game and expect him to have good at-bats. I'm sure he'll do everything he can to do that, but I want to get these guys at-bats."

So the manager intends to give Harrison regular starts early in the season. Sometimes at third base to give Carter Kieboom a break. Sometimes at second base so Starlin Castro can catch his breath. And sometimes in left field as a right-handed complement to Schwarber.

Difficult as it might be for some guys to bounce around from position to position, Harrison has long since grown comfortable being a baseball diamond nomad.

"I've been doing this since I first got my crack at the big leagues," he said. "But that's not where it started. It actually started back in college, so I've been doing this for 10-plus years bouncing around. And it's something that I've taken a lot of pride in, working at other spots that I might not have as many games. Over the years, you really get that experience from playing. And there's not a spot out there that I don't feel comfortable at.

"Other than, you know, behind the plate or on the mound."