With injuries to infielders Pedro Florimon and now J.P. Crawford, who could miss as much as six weeks with a broken hand, the Phillies went in search of some infield depth. Who they found was veteran Danny Espinosa, who turned 31 in April.

It was just in 2016 when Espinosa seemingly perked up his career when he hit 24 home runs with the Nationals. Before that season, Espinosa had 68 career home runs over six seasons with the Nats. One outstanding issue was the surging home run number made his average drop from a career .230 level from 2010 through 2015 to just .209 in 2016. Following that season, Washington dealt him to the Angles for Kyle McGowin and Austin Adams and things started to go downhill for Espinosa, who the Nationals drafted in the third round of the 2008 draft. The Angels released him last July after he hit .162 in 77 games. He signed a minor league deal with Seattle and returned to the majors for eight games and hit .188 with the Mariners. He was released in August and signed with Tampa Bay where he again played in eight games but hit .273 giving him some hope for the 2018 season.

Espinosa signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in January but was released two months later only to sign a minor league deal with division rival Toronto. In 13 games with Triple-A Buffalo, Espinosa hit .232 but was again released at the end of April. From there, it was another minor league deal, this time with the Dodgers and he played in 19 games and hit .150 before being released again at the end of May.

In signing with the Phillies, that makes seven organizations that Espinosa has signed with since the start of the 2017 season and he’s played in the majors with three of them. When he signed, his 2018 minor league stats line was an unimpressive .190/.236/.276 for the 2018 season. In the majors, he’s had 295 plate appearances since the start of the 2017 season and has hit .173/.245/.278 in those games with the Angels, Rays and Mariners.

“He’s always been able to defend up the middle of the infield,” said Pigs manager Gary Jones of Espinosa. “The bat has slowed a little and I think he got into a situation where maybe he was trying to hit everything out of the park, but he’s a veteran guy and he’s the type of player the organization needs right now with all of the injuries.”

There’s no indication that Espinosa will head to Philadelphia any time soon, but if there are any other injuries, it will give them an option other than Mitch Walding, who is limited to playing just third base and potentially, some left field. Espinosa has played all four infield positions and left field in the majors.

UP THE LADDER ... Pitchers Tyler Gilbert and Ranger Suarez were promoted from Reading to Lehigh Valley. Gilbert, a 24-year old lefty, was drafted by the Phillies in the sixth round of the 2015 Draft. After working as a starter for two seasons, he moved to the bullpen last year. In four minor league seasons, he is 16-19 with a 3.42 ERA. Suarez is one of the top pitching prospects for the Phillies and was 4-3, 2.76 in 12 starts with the Fightins. The 22-year old lefty will make his Triple-A debut over the weekend in Rochester.