Wilson Ramos Out for the Season: What This Means for the Washington Nationals
This is starting to get downright absurd. Washington Nationals’ catcher Wilson Ramos tore his ACL last night when his cleat got stuck in the dirt, costing him for the rest of the season. This is the 374,393,303 National player to be hurt this season. Ok, not really, but it is their fifth starter that has been injured in some fashion.
As I’ve said before, it appears the 2012 Washington Nationals are apart of the movie franchise Final Destination. Here’s a list of injuries the they have had to deal with thus far: slugger Michael Morse is out until June, outfielder Jayson Werth is probably out for the year, franchise third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been battling shoulder injuries, the surprising Adam LaRoche missed some time last week with nagging injuries, closer Drew Storen hasn’t pitched all season, Brad Lidge – one of the interim closers – is on the disabled list, and finally catcher Wilson Ramos is likely gone for the season with a torn ACL. That, right there, is a paragraph of injuries.
Having said all that, the Washington Nationals (21-12) lead the Atlanta Braves by a .5 game in the National League East. It just shows the resiliency this club has to have a record as good as that while dealing with all these injuries. It also helps that they have one of the better pitching staffs in the league led by Stephen Strasburg.
But what does the Wilson Ramos injury mean to the Washington Nationals? The catcher broke out last season with the Washington Nationals, with an OPS over .770. Prior to the season, Wilson Ramos made headlines due to his scary kidnapping in Venezuela, so Wilson Ramos has already been through a lot this year. So far this season, Wilson Ramos was doing pretty well, although he wasn’t hitting for as much power as he did in 2011.
The Washington Nationals will now turn to Jesus Flores to be their everyday catcher. Flores, 27, has a career .689 OPS in five seasons with the Washington Nationals. Needless to say, this injury will hurt the Washington Nationals. But if Michael Morse isn’t going to come back anytime soon, it doesn’t really matter in the big scheme of things. At most, this injury will cost the Nationals three wins.
