Might be right place, right time for Tony Gwynn Jr.

VIERA, Fla. - Less than 10 days ago, Tony Gwynn Jr. was sitting in his home in San Diego without a job. The eight-year veteran was coming off his worst season in the majors on and off the field.

"If I'm being honest, around Feb. 1 is when you start to get like, 'What is going on? There's nothing happening,' " Gwynn said. "But ultimately, my faith was that I would be somewhere. I didn't know where I would be, what the opportunity would be, but I knew I would be somewhere. But we're human. You start to doubt, especially because I've always signed before Christmas. So after it got past that point, you start to kind of question."

But on the morning of March 2, the phone rang and, within 24 hours, Gwynn was boarding a plane headed to Florida to join his new ballclub, having signed a minor league contract with the Nationals.

"When you're at home not knowing what's going to happen, you're happy for any opportunity," Gwynn said. "For an opportunity like this to pop up, it's just icing on the cake."

That's what Gwynn said one week ago after arriving at the Space Coast Stadium clubhouse for the first time. The Nationals brought Gwynn in mostly because starting left fielder Jayson Werth and reserve outfielder Nate McLouth were both recovering from shoulder surgeries. McLouth is much further along in his rehab process than Werth, but neither has a definite return date. What Gwynn didn't know when he uttered those words last Wednesday is that the opportunity would actually be far greater - he would be competing to be the team's starting center fielder.

In the Nationals' Grapefruit League season opener a day later, Denard Span injured a right core muscle that required surgery. With Span's availability now in doubt for the first month of the season and maybe longer, Nationals manager Matt Williams is turning to rookie Michael A. Taylor and Gwynn to fill the role in center field.

"I was excited when I got here regardless of whether Denard was hurt or not," Gwynn said. "When you're at home and you don't know if you're going to get another opportunity to play, when that opportunity comes, you're excited regardless of the situation. The one thing about this organization as I've seen from the other side is that they've always been pretty good about having depth for these types of situations. I'm just hoping to fill in that role for the meantime."

Gwynn has responded early, hitting .500 (4-for-8) with two walks and two runs scored while playing both center and right field. He's noticed positive changes since working with Triple A-Syracuse batting coach Joe Dillon, who Gwynn played with in Milwaukee, and Nationals batting coach Rick Schu.

"He's always been able to hit," Williams said. "Coming in, he told me he had been working out. He's ready to go. He's got a really short stroke. It's repeatable for him. Great knowledge of the strike zone. He's just a pro. He knows how to hit."

That wasn't the case last season when Gwynn's batting average reached a career-low .152 in just 127 plate appearances with the Phillies. It's understandable, though, when you recognize that his father, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, passed away midseason, on June 16. The elder Gwynn was one of the game's all-time greats having won eight National League batting titles. But aside from the game, he shared a very close relationship with his son before his death at 54.

"You know what, I think a lot of that had to do with what was going on with my dad. I knew it was serious since the first day of May," Tony Gwynn Jr. said. "So from that point on, it was tough. Everybody deals with those type of situations differently. Having been around him the 31 years I was around him, I should've picked up something on my own. I should be able to manage my own swing a little bit. So he was always there, almost like a safety net, a watchful eye.

"But I think for the most part, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to know that it had more with me kind of being able to get away for a little bit as opposed to it being a mechanical flaw. Baseball's hard enough as it is when you are fully focused on it. When you've got your brain being pulled in different directions, it's twice as hard. An offseason was well-needed and welcome for me to kind of reset and start over so to speak."

Gwynn's best year in the majors came with the Padres, where his father starred for two decades. He hit .270 with 106 hits, including 11 doubles and six triples in 451 plate appearances in 2009. He's owns a career .238 batting average.

Maybe Washington is the perfect spot for Gwynn to revitalize his career while honoring his late father and hero. Maybe it's just the right place at the right time.