Anthony Rendon heads to dugout before game during spring training (Cheryl Nichols/District Sports Page)

In a surprising move in late April, the Washington Nationals asked for the services of their top prospect while the Face of the Franchise recovers from his annual trip to the disabled list. If this sounds familiar, well, it is. Last April the Nats called up Bryce Harper when Ryan Zimmerman originally hurt his throwing shoulder. This year, it’s Anthony Rendon getting the call to directly replace Zimmerman, both on the roster and in the field.

From a talent standpoint, this isn’t that surprising. Rendon had an awesome spring training, looking every bit a big leaguer. In his first 14 games with AA-Harrisburg, the 22-year-old was off to a great start as well, hitting .292/.462/.500 in 65 plate appearances with four doubles, two homers and seven RBIs. He’s walked 14 times opposed to nine strikeouts and his defensive skills have been lauded since he was a collegiate.

What is somewhat surprising is that the Nats have decided to eschew preseason contingency plans and that it’s better to get Rendon’s feet wet in the big leagues for two weeks while Zim’s left hammy heals instead of going with a player that has MLB experience (Will Rhymes), a deeper minor league pedigree (Carlos Rivero) or staying in-house, allowing Chad Tracy or Steve Lombardozzi to take the reps until Zim is back on the field.

Nats GM Mike Rizzo has long-held the philosophy that he doesn’t want to promote a player to the bigs until he’s mastered the previous level, there’s a place for him on the Major League roster and that player will play everyday. He’s not a big fan of bringing a prospect up and sending him back down.

Now, maybe in this instance he’s comfortable with the pre-described limited window of opportunity to bring up Rendon solely until Zimmerman can be reactivated in 12 days, assuming Zim’s D.L. stint was retroactive to the last time he played. After the win over the Mets Saturday, Davey Johnson said specifically Rendon would go back to the minors when Zim is healthy.

Rizzo corroborated. “I would think that when Zim comes back, we’ll probably send him down for more seasoning,” Rizzo told the beat reporters. “But we’ll take that as it comes. We see him as a long-term component of the team.”

No kidding.

When Zimmerman gets healthy, unfortunately there’s no place on this team for Rendon, with Adam LaRoche, Danny Espinosa and Ian Desmond all fixtures at their positions. Despite anxious fans calling for Rendon to start in place of any of the Nats stalwarts when they slump, the team is committed to each of their infield players at this point. It would take a trade — or another injury — for Rendon to stay on the roster once Zimmerman returns.

And the team won’t let Rendon stay in the bigs as a bench player, getting just a handful of at bats a week. They’d rather he play everyday in the minors.

It’s interesting that the Nats feel the need to go to Rendon at this point. A safer play would have been to go with Rivero or Rhymes, especially considering the team has two open spots on the 40-man roster right now. But it’ll be exciting to watch Rendon’s MLB debut and first stint with the big league team, regardless how long it lasts. It might just be two weeks, but the next time it might be for good.