At the end of Spring Training, the feel-good story for the Washington Nationals was that Clint Robinson made an Opening Day roster for the first time in his career.
Prior to this season, the 30-year-old journeyman had only played in 13 big league games—four with the Royals in 2012 and nine with the Dodgers last season. The first baseman/outfielder had plenty of professional baseball experience, playing 921 games over eight seasons in the minors, but he was always considered a good Triple-A player and not much else.
When the Nationals signed him to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training last season, few expected Robinson to swerve away from the general trend of his career.