Danny Espinosa set a record for home runs by a rookie second baseman before the All-Star break when he hit his 15th against the Angels on Tuesday night.
If you take a step back, though, consider this — Espinosa already is the best second baseman in the history of the Washington Nationals.
Granted, it’s a short history. We are talking about the franchise since its move to Washington for the 2005 season, not its past life in Montreal.
But even with a sample size of seven years — including this season — you would think it would take more than a half season for a player to establish himself as the best at that position.
Then again, it’s not a deep pool to choose from.
Jose Vidro was a three-time All-Star in Montreal at second base — during a certain era. In 2000, he batted .330 with 24 home runs and 97 RBI.
By the time he got to Washington, Vidro hit seven home runs, drove in 32 runs and batted .275 in 87 games. In 2006, he had comparable numbers in 126 games.
Ronnie Belliard took over second base duties in 2007 despite his limited range and batted .290 with 11 home runs and 58 RBI in 136 games. In 2008, Felipe Lopez hit two home runs, drove in 25 runs and batted .234 in 100 games.
Belliard split time at second in 2009 with five home runs, 22 RBI and a .246 average in 86 games, while Anderson Hernandez appeared in 77 games and had one homer, 23 RBI and a .251 average.
Free agent Adam Kennedy was keeping the seat warm for Espinosa in 2010, batting .249 with three home runs and 32 RBI in 135 games, splitting time with the greatest shortstop in Nationals history, Cristian Guzman (who else?), who was seeing time at second base last year.
Then Espinosa arrived at the end of last season. While he batted just .214 in 28 games, he showed the power that was coming with six home runs and 15 RBI.
He is the best we’ve seen at second base since baseball returned to Washington.
Nationals fans better get used to saying that — and not just at second base — because the quality of talent is definitely on the upswing. Ivan Rodriguez is a Hall of Fame catcher, but we haven’t seen the best of Pudge in his two seasons here in Washington. With all due respect to Brian Schneider and his three seasons here, we could be watching the best catcher in a Nationals uniform in Wilson Ramos.
You could even make the case that Roger Bernadina is the best center fielder to play for the Nationals — unless you really believe Brad Wilkerson, Ryan Church, Nook Logan, Lastings Milledge and Nyjer Morgan were better.
This is a good development. It’s a sign that the reclamation and rehabilitation era of the Washington Nationals is at an end. It is a time when fans can start debating who is the best they’ve seen, not who is the worst.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
