Danny Espinosa, the Washington Nationals’ second baseman, arrived at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday looking as if he’d spent the winter as baseball’s answer to Joaquin Phoenix circa 2009.
In other words, Espinosa, 25, was nearly unrecognizable under a phenomenally bushy beard that he’s been growing since before the end of the 2012 season. And when it was Espinosa’s turn to talk to reporters gathered at Nats Fest, the no one wanted to talk baseball at first.
“How long have you been growing that?” was the first question. Espinosa said his last shave was last October 1, which, perhaps incidentally, was the same day the Nationals clinched the National League East division title.
Espinosa’s mountain-man beard mostly matches his dark brown hairline up top, but has bloomed so unkempt that there are some reddish patches here and there. He said that after October 1, he decided he was “over shaving” for a while. “I always kind of have a five o’clock shadow, something small,” he said. “But I figured I’d just let it go. I’d just see and let it grow.”
Though the reactions from journalists were bemused, Espinosa said that most of the reception has been “about mixed.” Sporting such a woolly appearance requires some extra maintenance, he said, an occasional stray hair getting caught in his mouth.
But Nationals fans—or those who wish more people looked like members of forestal rock bands like Fleet Foxes—should not expect Espinosa’s beard to last. Espinosa plans to chop it off when arrives in Viera, Fla. next month for spring training.
That could be a bit of a disappointment to the Nationals’ most famously hirsute player, outfielder Jayson Werth, who also arrived at the team convention sporting an extended version of the beard he usually wears.
“I think he looks fantastic,” Werth said when told Espinosa was giving him a run for his money. “I wish more guys would do it.”
Oh, and as far as actual baseball matters are concerned? Espinosa said he is feeling much better from his hitting slump at the end of last season. Shortly after the Nationals were eliminated in the National League Division Series, he discovered he had been playing the last month of the season with a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder. It became so painful, in fact, that even reaching up to wash that beard was an arduous task.
Espinosa said he and the team opted for rehabilitative treatment rather than surgery. “I would have missed two months of the season,” he said. However, switch-hitting second baseman added that if the tear had been in his right shoulder, he would have had to have surgery.
