Injury ends Marrero’s campaign

By Robert Daski

Published: June 23, 2008

Potomac Nationals first baseman Chris Marrero will miss the remainder of the season with what he confirmed on Friday is a broken right ankle.

Washington Nationals director of player development Bobby Williams confirmed Monday night that Marrero will have surgery. Marrero will see a Washington team physician on Wednesday to determine when the surgery can take place, but Williams acknowledged it could take place as soon as Wednesday.

Williams said Marrero will begin rehabilitation in the fall or winter.

“Hopefully he will be ready for spring training next year,” Williams said.

That prediction means Marrero will not participate in any offseason baseball whether it be the Arizona Fall League or Hawaii Winter Baseball, leagues players play in to polish their skills for the following year.

Marrero, 19, was in his second stint at Potomac. He was hitting .250 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI this year and was settling into playing first base after playing outfield last year. He hit .259 with nine home runs and 35 RBI for Potomac in 2007 after being promoted from Low-A Hagerstown.

“He was really starting to come on and swing the bat well,” Williams said. “It’s very unfortunate. You don’t want to see any of your guys get hurt. Injuries are part of the game.

“He’s going to bounce back from this. He’s going to be fine. He’ll have surgery and do his rehab. We antici-pate having him back playing next year. He’s still very young. He’s going to recover fine from this.”

Williams feels Marrero was making progress at Potomac.

“He was really swinging the bat well and coming on here recently,” Williams said. “He was showing im-provements in all parts of his game. He was making progress defensively and playing much batter as a first baseman. I was encouraged with how he was progressing. It’s a shame he got hurt.”

Marrero’s replacement, Bill Rhinehart, played in his first game for Potomac on Friday and hit a home run in his first at-bat. Rhinehart followed that by hitting his second home run the next evening during a 2-for-4, two-RBI performance.

“It’s always nice to see a guy perform well when he’s moved to the next level as quickly as Rhinehart did,” Williams said. “To see him hit a home fun in his first at-bat was very exciting. You love to see when guys do well at next level. It’s unfortunate how Rhinehart got the opportunity in Potomac with the injury to Marrero.

“He’s going to get the chance to play at that level for the rest of the season and we’ll see what he can do at this level.”