Coupled with Thursday's day off, it will give Moreland two days of rest. Washington said Moreland will be back in the lineup Friday against the Mariners.

Moreland has been one of the majors' hottest hitters since late May. He's batting .352 with a .694 slugging percentage, 1.088 OPS, eight home runs, 11 doubles and 20 RBI in his last 29 games.

Moreland has been on a roll since late April. He's batting .363 with a .405 on-base percentage, .716 slugging percentage and 1.121 OPS in his last 27 games. He also has a triple, eight home runs, 10 doubles and 20 RBI in that span.

Moreland has secured an everyday spot and has Nando eyeing a 25-homer season, with nine already on the board. Nando also sets an over/under on Moreland's ownership at 87 percent by the end of the month, after he jumped up from 33 to 57 percent just over the last week.

If you are looking for an upgrade at first base, you can definitely do worse than a 27-year-old with growing power who doesn't strike out much and has improved his batting average at least 21 points in each of the last two seasons. That he plays in a solid lineup in a hitter's park is all the more reason to run out and grab Moreland.

While that exact number is probably far-fetched -- projecting a player's rest-of-season numbers at a time when he's unsustainably hot is inherently misleading -- a more reasonable increase in home runs is not. Moreland hit 15 in only 327 at-bats last year, so he's a good bet for 20-plus simply by playing more. Plus, he's 27 this year. While I don't think that age is any more magical than 26 or 28, it's true that most players see an increase in power in their mid-to-late 20s.

Though I'd like Moreland more if he had better plate discipline, the bottom line is his surprising production to date might not be so surprising after all. You should at least value him on the level of a Justin Morneau or Brandon Belt at first base.