Nationals Infielder Ready To 'Wipe the Slate Clean' After 'Traumatic Injury'
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This past offseason, the Washington Nationals decided to be fairly dormant in free agency.
While they could have gone after some of the high-profile names on the market since some money came off their books, the organization decided it was better to go through another year with their young players on the Major League roster to get an idea of who could be a franchise cornerstone.
That resulted in some veteran players being added to fill out the margins of the team, with Nathaniel Lowe really being the most notable addition since he won the World Series in 2023 with the Texas Rangers and the Nationals had to acquire him via a trade.
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Lowe was brought in to plug the hole at first base for Washington, but he wasn't the only player added to solve a problem.
Paul DeJong was signed to largely be the team's everyday third baseman, with the belief that star prospect Brady House, Nasim Nunez and Jose Tena weren't quite ready for a full-time role at the Major League level.
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While the nine-year MLB veteran's bat was performing at a below average level, he was still providing solid defense at the hot corner.
Unfortunately, on April 15, DeJong was hit in the face by a fastball, resulting in a broken nose.
That injury kept him sidelined until he was activated off the injured list on July 1.
"It's been a humbling experience for me to go back to square one and just pray to get healthy and recover from a traumatic injury. But that process went just about as good as it could have gone for," he said, per Jessica Camerato of MLB.com. "Now I'm ready to kind of wipe the slate clean ... It's July 1 -- it's just a great time to be here, and I'm just excited."
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In his return to the diamond during Wednesday's doubleheader, he went 1-for-4 across both games with an RBI, two walks and a strikeout.
It's hard to project how a player who was hit in the face will look at the plate when returning from that injury, but DeJong is ready to move forward.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai