It is no secret that the Washington Nationals could use the bat of Daniel Murphy, who has been the starting second baseman the past two seasons.
The left-hander hitter, with a batting average of .347 and .322 in his first two seasons, respectively, with Washington, has not played this year after having knee surgery in October. There is no timetable for his return and Murphy said on Wednesday that he can’t run at 100 percent.
“I am not in a position where I can run right (well enough) now and play,” Murphy said on Wednesday. “I only want to come off the disabled list once. I have said that before. I am no good to anybody if I come off and I am limited and I can’t play on a daily basis and the team kind of has to carry me as a passenger. I hope today I am closer to playing than I was two weeks ago.”
“Still working on trying to run and seeing if I can get that squared away,” he added. “Any rehab process is going to be unique to the individual. I think a level of frustration is reasonable for me right now. I want to play. I see these guys competing. As far as running goes I still have a little bit of a hitch in my giddy up. I am not running the way I would if I was 100 percent.”
In addition, Nationals manager Dave Martinez said before Wednesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates that third baseman Anthony Rendon (toe), who has been on the disabled list since April 22, will begin a minor league rehab assignment on Thursday with Single-A Potomac.
Potomac hosts the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks on Thursday at 7:05 p.m.
“(Rendon’s) going out tomorrow and he’ll play one or two games. He ran today, looked good, said he’s ready. Going to get some at-bats and play a full game,” Martinez said. “He might DH and then play third or he might just play third, we’ll see how he feels.”
In addition, Washington ace Max Scherzer was named the National League pitcher of the month for April. He won five games in April and began May with a win on Tuesday against the Pirates.
Bryce Harper was back in the lineup as the leadoff hitter Wednesday for the Nationals. He batted leadoff for the first time since 2013 on Tuesday. And in his third at-bat, he hit his ninth home run of the season and first in nearly two weeks.
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