On Saturday, the Washington Nationals suffered another major injury, with Howie Kendrick rupturing his Achilles and thereby ending his season. Kendrick's addition to the disabled list gives the Nationals more than half a starting lineup on the mend, as he joins Matt Wieters, Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy, Adam Eaton and Brian Goodwin on the shelf.

Given the state of the lineup, the Nationals are understandably doing more in response to losing Kendrick than promoting a journeyman type. Rather, general manager Mike Rizzo is bringing up his best healthy outfield prospect: 19-year-old Juan Soto, who has all of eight games of experience at the Double-A level:

Soto -- a Dominican who signed with the Nationals at age 16 in 2015 -- has hit everywhere he has played throughout his professional career. He entered the season ranked as a top-30 prospect by both MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus, the latter stating he has all-star potential thanks to his upside as a "7 hit, 6 pop right fielder" -- or, in layman's terms, someone who can hit for a very high average while producing a good bit of power, too.

In all likelihood, Soto would not have been the one promoted had the Nationals' injury bug not spread to their minor-league depth. Top prospect VIctor Robles is out with an arm injury, while Rafael Bautista recently suffered a season-ending knee injury -- Bautista isn't a prospect like Robles or Soto are, but he would've made sense given his position in Triple-A.

Promoting Soto then is a risky, but sensible call for the Nationals, who entered Sunday three games back of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East. The Nationals will conclude their series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, having dropped a doubleheader on Saturday.