Nationals make puzzling move with Wilmer Difo promotion

The Washington Nationals made a somewhat strange move in calling up infielder Wilmer Difo from Double-A Harrisburg on Tuesday. With Jayson Werth relegated to the disabled list, Difo will slot into the veteran outfielder’s roster spot:

It’s a sooner-than-expected promotion, to say the least. Difo began the 2015 campaign with Class-A Potomac and had only played a total of 14 games at Double-A before receiving the call. He’s spent the majority of his time at shortstop, along with a solid number of appearances at second base.

To Difo’s credit, he has been thriving in the minor leagues recently. After struggling at four different levels in 2013, he rebounded with a great 2014 season at Class-A Hagerstown. He posted a .316/.360/.470 slash line with 14 home runs and 90 RBI. The breakthrough was enough to land him at #7 on Baseball America’s 2015 Nationals prospect rankings.

This year was shaping up to bring similar success. Difo hit .320 with three homers and 14 RBI in 19 games for Potomac before moving on to Harrisburg. He did not appear out of his depth at Double-A either in the early going, hitting .308 there in 14 games.

The move to Washington is more a question of need and fit. The Nats have been hot over the past couple weeks, winning eight of their last ten and climbing to within one game of the division-leading Mets in the National League East. Production and stability in the infield has played a key part in the recent surge.

Yunel Escobar has been a surprise at third base, seizing the opportunity after Anthony Rendon‘s MCL sprain. The veteran infielder experienced an eventful offseason in which he was traded from Tampa Bay to Oakland, followed by another swap just four days later sending him to his current home in Washington. He’s making quite the impression thus far, hitting .326 with a pair of homers and 13 RBI.

Switch-hitting second baseman Danny Espinosa is also doing a solid job helping pick up the slack in Rendon’s absence. He’s batting .275/.373/.490, clubbing five homers and driving in 13 runs. If there has been an infield disappointment, it’s unexpectedly come in the form of shortstop Ian Desmond. The former All-Star has gotten off to a shaky start in his contract year, putting up a meager .239/.293/.348 line with just two home runs and 9 RBI. The Nationals and their fans will expect Desmond to regain his typical form soon.

There just doesn’t seem to be a place for Difo to get substantial playing time at present, especially with Rendon still figuring to return at some point. A pure bench role is the likely gig. In a piece on Fangraphs, Dave Cameron questions the wisdom of taking regular at-bats away from such a young, inexperienced player. Difo, he claims, “doesn’t have a clear role on the 2015 Nationals, and having him sit on the bench in the big leagues isn’t going to help speed up his development. I’m not entirely sure why promoting a prospect to sit on the bench is becoming a trend, but it probably shouldn’t be.”

That assessment makes a good deal of sense, particularly for a contending team like the Nationals that doesn’t really need to roll the dice by testing out its youth unnecessarily. The protracted development time of MLB players, especially when compared to other major sports, is an occasional debate point among fans. But the player who can bypass extensive segments of minor league seasoning and perform well enough to remain at the big league level is a rare exception to the rule. If Difo had just started playing at Triple-A instead of the level below, the perspective on this decision would likely be quite different.

For now, it will be interesting to see when Difo gets his first opportunity and in exactly what type of role it will be. Who knows? Maybe the Nationals will make themselves look like geniuses.

Next: Patience key to fixing Nationals