Adam Eaton Awaiting MRI Results, Placed on 10-Day DL after Base Running Mishap

The Washington Nationals are hoping Adam Eaton’s injury looked worse than it actually was, but even after putting him on the 10-day DL they still don’t know the severity of the injury their leadoff hitter suffered Friday night.

Nationals manager Dusty Baker called the injury a strain to Eaton’s left knee, but the Nationals are still waiting on the results of an MRI, according to the Washington Post.

"“Nothing yet,” Baker said. “…we’re waiting from the MRI because it’s not that easy, not that many people working on Saturdays. We’re hopefully awaiting that it’s not as serious as it looked.”"

Eaton had to be helped off the field Friday night, and suddenly the Nationals looked like they were losing their leadoff hitter, who was hitting .297/.393/.462 and had reached base in 20 of 23 games when he went down.

As the Washington Post noted, putting Eaton on the 10-day DL as opposed to the 60-day DL shouldn’t necessarily be taken as a signal about the severity of the injury.

"They needed to make a move quickly to activate Rafael Bautista for Saturday’s game, and likely made it without a complete understanding of Eaton’s situation."

We’ll update this story when more information becomes available.