After a pretty impressive rookie season in 2011 (21 HR, 66 RBI, 17 SB) National’s fans had high expectations for 2nd baseman Danny Espinosa. I predicted that Danny would have another solid year in 2012, but so far my concerns about his low average and high strikeout totals have been a lot more accurate than my optimism about his power. Through 98 at bats this season his numbers of .194 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB, 34 Ks have made my rather modest projections of .248 AVG, 24 HR, 74 RBI, 21 SB seem totally overzealous. What’s worse is that despite such bad numbers so far he’s actually trending down, going just 5 for 35 (.143 AVG) without a single RBI and 14 strikeouts in his last 10 games. He currently trails only former Nat Adam Dunn for the major league strikeout lead with 34 which amounts to more than 1 every 3 at bats. That ratio may be ok for Dunn with his 9 HRs and 23 RBI, but not for Espinosa with his 1 HR and 2 RBI. This isn’t a new problem for Espinosa either. As I eluded to in my preseason bio of Espinosa (click “I predicted” above for link) he has never hit for a high average even in the minor leagues and has always struck out a lot. His saving grace had been his power at a position that usually doesn’t provide much pop. But now he has only hit 6 HRs in his last 345 at bats dating back to the 2011 All-Star break and he’s struck out 116 times over that span. So although I really like Danny and the way he plays the game, I have to wonder how he’s helping the team if he can’t hit for average or power while playing just average defense.  Read more...