How will Turner perform at shortstop?

The final countdown to spring training has arrived, and so we're spending the final days of the offseason counting down the Nationals' top storylines of the spring. We begin today with Trea Turner taking over as the everyday shortstop ...

Say what you want about Danny Espinosa's oft-maddening approach at the plate and how you won't miss watching that four times a night. But here's something you most certainly will miss watching: Espinosa in the field.

There was a certain comforting feeling when you saw a ground ball hit to shortstop last season. You didn't tense up wondering if the ball would be booted. You didn't hold your breath as the ball was thrown across the diamond. Espinosa was automatic on the routine plays, and he made his share of spectacular plays, as well.

The Nationals have a new shortstop this season, and while nobody is disputing the offensive upgrade they'll get from Trea Turner, it remains to be seen how the second-year player handles his new position in the field.

It's not really fair to refer to shortstop as a "new" position for Turner. He played it growing up. He played it at North Carolina State. And he played it in the minors before shifting to center field last summer when the Nats desperately needed improvement there.

But Turner hasn't played much shortstop at the major league level. (He has started just two games there for the Nationals, with 31 2/3 total defensive innings under his belt.)

The organization has had more opportunities to see Turner at shortstop, both in the minors and last spring, when he saw considerable action there. When he was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse late in camp, the message club officials gave him was to work on his consistency and his arm strength, perhaps raising some questions about their confidence in his ability to play the position at the highest level.

One year later, he'll show them whether he's made the kind of strides they asked.

"Excited to have an opportunity to go back there," Turner said in December, the day after Espinosa was traded to the Angels, confirming his place as the starting shortstop. "That's where I'm more comfortable, where I've played the majority of my career. I look forward to trying to prove I can play there at a high level and be consistent."

The Nationals have no false hope of Turner becoming another Espinosa in the field. He simply doesn't have the arm, not that many do. But they are confident the 23-year-old will hold his own at shortstop, and that whatever defensive drop-off there is will more than be made up for in offense.

"We think he's going to be a rangy shortstop," general manager Mike Rizzo said earlier this winter. "He's got good hands. He's got good feet. He's got range. He's got plenty of arm to plays short. And I think he's going to be a good defensive shortstop with good offense."