Danny Espinosa's player value extends with ability to play first base

The Nationals opted to place Danny Espinosa in a position he had never played before in a major league game. Espinosa started at first base Saturday in the Nationals' 7-2 win over the Brewers.

As expected, he had to make some plays. He had to flip the ball to the pitcher, a little high and a little late, but it worked to record the out. He had to stretch up the line once to make a stop in which the runner was safe. In the late-going, Espinosa went to one knee to make an athletic stab at a ball and earned another putout.

All in all, no major issues for Espinosa at first. He already had played left field in a game last week for the first time. Prior to these two stops on the field, Espinosa had played 485 games in six seasons at second base, 53 at shortstop and nine at third base.

Now he has played one game at first base and one in left field.

It should not come as any surprise that he can hold his own defensively. Espinosa is a toolsy, plus-plus defender, and those attributes have kept him on the major league roster as his hitting has been up and down.

But now it was his importance as a hitter and as a veteran of six seasons that led the Nationals to give him a shot at first base. They needed his bat on the field with the likes of veterans like Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth out of the lineup.

Espinosa has delivered this season, hitting .255 with a .351 on-base percentage. His strikeout totals are down. In 2012, he struck out a career-high 189 times and last season he was punched out 122 times.

In 186 plate appearances, according to Baseball Reference, his strikeout percentage is 21.5 percent, the lowest ratio of his career. Last season it ballooned to 33.5 percent and had not been below 28.0 percent of plate appearances since 2011.

His at-bats per strikeout is 4.0 which is not incredible for most players but it is much better than he has done in all of his career splits. His previous best was 3.5 AB/SO in 2011, and his worst was 2.7 in 2014.

With that confidence to hang in at-bats, Espinosa is seeing more pitches and helping the offense. With the team mired in a 11 for their last 14 games ending in losses, the Nationals had to think outside the box and get a guy with over 500 big league games under his belt into the starting lineup every day.

Now the infield defense remains solid, and the Nationals get Espinosa in the every day lineup. Tyler Moore and Clint Robinson will get their starts, but Espinosa provides a defensive ability at first base where he can use his range ability from second base to help the first base defensive protection. His range factor (putouts plus assists per nine innings) of 5.34 at second base in 44 games this season was his best since a 5.50 mark in 2010.

It appears his mind is clear and he is healthy, no more hand or wrist injuries that slowed him last season. Espinosa is able to provide strong defense in the infield and hit for close to average. That is a commodity the Nationals desperately need to bridge their starting lineup until everyone is back healthy. Maybe we will see Espinosa play the outfield again soon, too.