CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reports that the Washington Nationals have signed outfielder Tony Campana to a minor-league deal. The deal runs through the 2016 season, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post.
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Campana has been out of baseball this year recovering from a torn ACL, though he’s been doing baseball activities for a month and could prove to be a useful bench piece for the Nationals down the stretch. He’s never been incredibly reliable getting on base, but Campana did steal 54 bases over his first two big-league seasons from 2011-2012 and has continued to be reliable on the base paths in minimal big-league action over the last two years.
With Denard Span’s health status for the remainder of the season up in the air, Campana gives the Nationals a depth option in the outfield moving forward and through next year when Span likely departs on the open market.
While the Nationals do have Tyler Moore and Clint Robinson as current major-league depth options in the outfield, Campana offers a very different set of services to manager Matt Williams. Robinson and Moore will provide some pop off the bench, but Campana gives the Nationals a legitimate pinch-runner that could prove useful down the stretch with expanded rosters and with several still-recovering veterans on the roster.
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