Danny Espinosa told he will have chance to win starting job
Nationals infielder Danny Espinosa is headed to spring training with a renewed outlook after general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Matt Williams told him during the offseason he will have the chance to compete for the starting job at second base, according to MLB.com.
"Matt and Mike Rizzo both called me in the offseason and told me I’m going to get a fair opportunity to win my job back, and that’s all I can ask for," Espinosa said. "I’ve never asked for anything to be handed to me. But if I get a fair opportunity to win my job back, I feel like I can do it."
Espinosa attributes his poor performance in 2013, which resulted in him eventually losing the starting second-base job to Anthony Rendon, to a small fracture in his right wrist he sustained early in the season, which was originally diagnosed as a bone bruise.
"There was times I couldn’t pick my bat up with one hand," Espinosa said. "So my wrist was just in a bad place, and I shouldn’t have been playing on it, but I made the choice to try to play on it."
Espinosa is encouraged heading into 2014. He's been working with a personal trainer in the offseason and is back to lifting weights after a rotator cuff injury prevented him from doing so last season.
"I’m probably stronger at this point in my career than I’ve ever been in my life," he said. "My trainer has done an unbelievable job, he’s put me in a really good place. I feel physically I’m at the top of where I could ever be, almost. He’s done everything for me to get back to where I was and get beyond that, strength-wise. So I feel great."
