Second thoughts on when Anthony Rendon returns

The turnaround the Nationals offense has made is almost quite as dramatic as some of their late-inning comebacks since their perplexing 7-13 start. Their 205 runs scored and 199 RBIs lead the National League and are second-best in all of baseball to Toronto. And, the scary thought is they continue to do it without one of the top run producers from 2014 in their lineup.

Anthony Rendon drove in 83 runs and scored a league-high 111 while finishing fifth in the NL MVP vote in just his second year in the big leagues last season. There was plenty of chatter in the early stages of spring training about Rendon being the Nats most valuable player heading into this campaign filled with championship expectations. But, a fluky left knee sprain early in the exhibition season and a more recent left oblique strain have kept the 24-year-old away from his Nationals teammates for most of the first month and a half.

So, it was a welcome sight to see Rendon back at Nats Park fielding grounders and taking swings in the cage prior to Wednesday's 3-2 win over the Yankees. However, his return is still uncertain.

"Oblique's are difficult because you just don't know," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "So the objective is to make sure that he's fully ready to go ... that he has no pain doing anything, no issues doing anything and then we can look to games. That timetable nobody really knows. We'll just continue to ramp it slowly, but as much as we can. And when he's ready to go, he's ready to go."

The interesting dilemma the Nats face when Rendon is cleared for full action is where to play the budding superstar. Before the year, Rendon was seemingly locked in to be the Nationals third baseman for the foreseeable future. However, when Rendon does return, his exact spot on the diamond appears to be up in the air.

"He's gonna play third and he'll play some second," Williams said. "Right now, we're thinking about getting him as healthy as possible. We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

The reason for the uncertainty is Yunel Escobar, Rendon's replacement at third for 37 of the team's 41 games. Because of the injury situation, the Nats have been forced to scrap their plans for Escobar to play second base, the position general manager Mike Rizzo acquired him for this offseason. This was Rizzo explaining the move a few days after he made the trade for Escobar in January:

"We got a really good everyday baseball player that can play shortstop and second base and has done it on a championship caliber club, and this year fulfills as an upgrade at second base," Rizzo said to reporters.

Playing Escobar at the hot corner wasn't even a thought for the Nats back then. Escobar was fairly inexperienced playing second and third base in his previous eight seasons, having only seen action at both in his rookie season in 2007. But, he has settled in nicely at third this season. So much that it seems the Nationals are content on leaving him there and sending Rendon back to second base when he returns.

Aside from Bryce Harper, you could make a strong case that the newcomer Escobar has been the Nats' MVP so far. The 32-year-old is batting .326 with 14 RBIs and 24 runs scored. His two home runs have been significant, one to leadoff a game and the other to end a game in walk-off fashion. His versatility in the field has also extended to the lineup where Williams has taken advantage of Escobar's high contact rate at the top of the order.

Escobar, who's played primarily as a shortstop in his career, is more comfortable on that side of the diamond. So, it seems to make sense to leave him there and have Rendon play second. It probably won't even be a big deal, and it shouldn't be.

Escobar also dealt with an oblique strain at the start of the exhibition season. It took him about four weeks to fully recover. A similar path to health would leave the Nats expecting to see Rendon back in early June. At that point, Williams will have the welcomed predicament of fitting the run-producing Rendon not only in the field with Escobar, but also in his potent lineup.