A crushing debut

Catcher Sandy Leon finds himself in the right place at the wrong time 12 years ago today as he makes his major league debut for the Washington Nationals.

Just called up from Class AA Harrisburg, Leon starts against San Diego and goes 0-for-1 before suffering a high ankle sprain in a fourth-inning collision with Chase Headley.

Leon misses the rest of Washington’s 8-5 victory over the Padres before a Monday night crowd of 19,434 at Nationals Park.

He then misses the next two months of the season.

Leon returns to play another 11 games for the Nationals in 2012, picking up eight hits in his next 29 at-bats to finish the season with a .267 batting average.

Leon spends all or parts of the next 11 seasons in the majors with six teams and now is playing for the Atlanta Braves’ Class AAA in Gwinnett, Ga.