After Monday night's win over the Padres, Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson announced that rookie catcher Sandy Leon will make a trip to the disabled list. Leon suffered a sprained right ankle in a home plate collision with San Diego's Chase Headley. He was making his first career start after being called up to replace Wilson Ramos whose season ended on Saturday with a torn ACL. Leon was blocking the plate and tried to stab a short-hop throw from Danny Espinosa when Headley crushed him, with his right leg bending underneath his body. He limped off with the help of the trainer and Randy Knorr and was replaced by Jesus Flores. And it didn't take Johnson long to confirm that he will need a stint on the DL, via Adam Kilgore:
Davey says Leon to DL with high-ankle sprain. Maldonado up.
— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) May 15, 2012
With two catchers lost in the last three days, the Nationals will now turn to veteran minor-leaguer Carlos Maldonado as a backup to Flores. Maldonado is hitting .224 in 20 games with Syracuse this season.
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