College career

Espinosa, who is of Mexican-American descent, played college baseball at California State University, Long Beach. He played shortstop and hit .303 with 11 home runs and 98 RBIs in his three-year career. As a freshman, he was the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the third round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.

Professional career

Minor leagues

Espinosa spent the rest of the 2008 summer with the Vermont Lake Monsters, where he batted .328. The following year he was promoted to high-A Potomac and hit .264 with a .375 on-base percentage while hitting 18 home runs with 72 RBIs and 29 steals, and was a High-A and Carolina League All Star. He began 2010 in AA Harrisburg, hitting .262 with 18 home runs, before being promoted to AAA in Syracuse. In AAA, he hit .295 with four home runs and was just the second player in all of organized baseball to reach 20 homers and 20 steals in 2010. At Syracuse, Espinosa, who had played shortstop for his college and minor league career, was shifted to second base, since Ian Desmond was already playing shortstop for the Nationals.

Washington Nationals

2010 debut

When the major league rosters expanded on September 1, 2010, Espinosa was called up to the majors for the first time. He appeared in his first game that night. In his first at bat, he hit a ground ball to second base that took an odd hop and went into right field, allowing Espinosa to turn it into an RBI double when he saw that the right fielder hadn't charged the ball. On September 6, 2010 against the New York Mets, in his first game at Nationals Park, Espinosa went 4 for 5, with two home runs (the second and third of his career) including a grand slam and six RBI. Espinosa played in the Puerto Rican winter league after the 2010 season.

2011

Espinosa had a productive 2011 season, hitting 21 home runs and stealing 17 bases. He finished 6th in the National League Rookie of the Year balloting. He was also hit by a pitch 19 times, tied for first with Justin Upton.

2012

Espinosa began the 2012 season in an extended slump, hitting only .205 in April with 2 RBIs. He rebounded after the All-Star break, hitting .300 in July.

2013

Espinosa began the 2013 season in a slump, hitting only .171 through mid-May. Espinosa was consequently sent down to the AAA club at Syracuse and batted .216 with 2 home runs, 22 runs batted in, and 6 stolen bases over 75 games for the rest of his season in the minors.

2014

In April 2014 he added another 3 home-runs to his baseball career along with .291 in batting and .831 on-base plus slugging.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]