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Washington Nationals' Adam Eaton tears ACL, likely to miss rest of season

By David Driver, The Sports Xchange
Washington's Adam Eaton has torn his ACL and will likely miss the rest of the season. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Washington's Adam Eaton has torn his ACL and will likely miss the rest of the season. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

WASHINGTON -- Washington center fielder Adam Eaton, acquired for three young pitchers in a trade with the Chicago White Sox in December, has an ACL tear in his left leg and will likely miss the rest of the season, general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters Sunday.

"His return to this season is unlikely but we don't know until the doctors get in there and we'll see what the surgery leads us to believe," Rizzo said before the Nationals faced the New York Mets. "It's a big piece of our team that's been taken from us, but we can't dwell on that. Every team in baseball goes through these types of things and this is a good, special player for us that's hurt. Usually ACLs take 6-9 months to fully regain ability to perform at major league level."

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Eaton had been used as the leadoff hitter for the Nationals while playing center field for manager Dusty Baker. He was injured in the bottom of the ninth Friday night as he beat out an infield single, as his left leg hit the first base bag at a weird angle.

Eaton was carried off the field and had an MRI exam on Saturday.

"It's probably the worst pain I've ever felt in my life," Eaton told reporters Sunday. "When I heard it pop I thought it was my ankle. I looked down to basically see if I saw any bones and make sure that everything's still there."

The fiery left-handed hitter is batting .297 (27-for-91) and played in the first 23 games. Eaton has seven doubles, a slugging mark of .462, on-base average of .393 and two homers and 13 RBIs.

He formed a dynamic one-two punch with Trea Turner, the team's shortstop.

The first-place Nationals will turn to Michael A. Taylor, who is 26, to play center field while moving Turner up to the leadoff spot where he has thrived in the past. Taylor had three hits Saturday while starting in center for the Nationals.

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"We're comfortable. We think we have the offense to compensate for Adam," Rizzo said. "We feel we have the personnel specifically at that position to compensate for him. It's one of the greatest depth positions we have in the organization, so we feel good about that."

Taylor hit in the No. 2 hole on Saturday but the Nationals put left fielder Jayson Werth in that spot Sunday against the Mets, moving Taylor to the No. 7 spot.

Taylor, a fine defensive player, hit .231 in 76 games last season and began this year with a career mark of .228 in 231 games. He strikes out a lot, and entered Sunday with an average of .192 in 26 at-bats.

Taylor struck out 252 times in 732 at-bats coming into this season. He saw time at center for parts of the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Baker shot down the idea of moving right fielder Bryce Harper to center and also dismissed the idea of moving Turner to center, a spot he played some last year after coming up through the San Diego and Washington systems as a shortstop after playing there at North Carolina State.

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