Fantasy Player of the Day: Nationals Second Baseman Danny Espinosa

Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa is producing more than I expected at this point in the season, even of his batting average may be killing your fantasy team. Espinosa seems to have the knack for having big games, with a few 0-4 and 1-5 games in between.

On Tuesday night, Espinosa went 3-4 with 2 home runs, 2 runs scored and 4 runs batted in. What makes his night even more impressive is that he hit both homers off of Phillies ace Cliff Lee. For the season, Espinosa is hitting just .217-.311-.461 with 10 home runs, 33 runs batted in, 27 runs scored and 4 stolen bases.

After Tuesday's effort, he is tied for first in home runs and tied for second in RBIs amongst fantasy second baseman. What hurts his batting average is his low BABIP of .222 (going into Tuesday night's game) and his strikeout rate which hovers around 26%.

Coming into the season, I thought Espinosa could go 15-15 this year, but it appears he wants to make that projection look silly. Espinosa is on pace for a 30-99-12 season, but that seems lofty. I think he can hit another 10-13 HRs and drive in another 35-40 runs, to end the season around 20-23 HRs with 68-73 RBIs.