The Washington Nationals are off to a fantastic start, even without too many contributions from their best position player, Ryan Zimmerman. The third baseman's shoulder has been bothering him, and the initial prescription was for rest. But when things didn't improve, the Nationals decided to make things a little exciting, calling up phenom Bryce Harper:

On Sat., the Nationals will place 3B Ryan Zimmerman on the 15-Day DL & recall OF Bryce Harper, who will make his MLB debut at Dodger Stadium

— Nationals PR (@NationalsPR) April 27, 2012

Harper will make his debut tomorrow, according to Adam Kilgore, which suggests he'll be in the starting lineup.

Harper, 19, has had a middling-to-decent start to the year in triple-A -- impressive, of course, when you consider he's still a teenager, but nothing suggesting that he was a no-brainer call-up who had the best chance to help the Nationals right away.

Zimmerman shouldn't be out beyond the required 15 days, as an MRI on his shoulder came up negative earlier this week.