Danny Espinosa
Encyclopedia
Daniel Richard "Danny" Espinosa (born April 25, 1987 in Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....

) is a Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 Second baseman
Second baseman
Second base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...

 for the Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...

.

College career

Espinosa played college baseball
College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...

 at California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach is the second largest campus of the California State University system and the third largest university in the state of California by enrollment...

. He played shortstop and hit .303 with 11 home runs and 98 RBIs in his three year career. As a freshman, he was the Big West Conference
Big West Conference
The Big West Conference is an NCAA-affiliated Division I mid-major college athletic conference. When the conference began in 1969, its name was the Pacific Coast Athletic Association . After nineteen years, in 1988, its name was changed to the Big West Conference. The conference stopped...

 Freshman of the Year. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...

 in the third round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft
2008 Major League Baseball Draft
The 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft continued Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, and was held on June 5 and 6, 2008.-First round selections:* Did not sign...

.

Minor leagues

Espinosa spent the rest of the 2008 summer with the Vermont Lake Monsters
Vermont Lake Monsters
The Vermont Lake Monsters are a minor league baseball team in the Short-Season A classification New York - Penn League, affiliated with the Oakland Athletics. The team plays its home games at Centennial Field on the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, Vermont...

, where he batted .328. The following year he was promoted to high-A Potomac
Potomac Nationals
The Potomac Nationals are a Minor League Baseball team located in Woodbridge, Virginia. The Nationals play in the Class A Advanced Carolina League, and are an affiliate of the Washington Nationals.-History:...

 and hit .264 with a .375 on-base percentage while hitting 18 home runs with 72 RBIs and 29 steals, and was a High-A and Carolina League All Star. He began 2010 in AA Harrisburg
Harrisburg Senators
The Harrisburg Senators are a minor league baseball team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals....

, hitting .262 with 18 home runs, before being promoted to AAA in Syracuse. In AAA, he hit .295 with four home runs and was just the second player in all of organized baseball year to reach 20 homers and 20 steals in 2010. At Syracuse, Espinosa, who had played shortstop for his college and minor league career, was shifted to second base, since Ian Desmond
Ian Desmond
Ian M. Desmond is a shortstop for the Washington Nationals . He was selected by the Montreal Expos in the third round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft and signed on June 16....

 was already playing shortstop for the Nationals.

Washington Nationals

When the major league rosters expanded on September 1, 2010, Espinosa was called up to the majors for the first time. He appeared in his first game that night. In his first at bat, he hit a ground ball to second base that took an odd hop and went into right field, allowing Espinosa to turn it into an RBI double when he saw that the right fielder hadn't charged the ball.
On September 6, 2010 against the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...

, in his first game at Nationals Park, Espinosa went 4 for 5, with two home runs (the second and third of his career) including a grand slam
Grand slam (baseball)
In the sport of baseball, a grand slam is a home run hit with all three bases occupied by baserunners , thereby scoring four runs—the most possible in one play. According to The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the term originated in the card game of contract bridge, in which a grand slam involves...

 and six RBI.

External links

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