As CBSSports.com colleague Jon Heyman wrote, the Nationals plan to give 19-year-old Bryce Harper a real chance to make their team out of spring training.

In fact, one Nationals official told me he believes that Harper should make it, and that even though he is still learning, "he can help you win while he learns."

Besides, it's not unheard of for a 19-year-old to play in the big leagues. Mike Trout did it for 14 games with the Angels last summer. Both Uptons (B.J. and Justin) did it.

Alex Rodriguez played in the big leagues when he was still 18 years old.

But according to research through baseball-reference.com, Harper would be the first 19-year-old to break camp with a team since Felix Hernandez with the 2006 Mariners, and the first position player to do it since Andruw Jones with the 1997 Braves.

Harper will be 19 years, 172 days old when the Nationals open their season on April 5 in Chicago. King Felix (19.118 when he debuted in August 2005) was the last big leaguer that young, and Adrian Beltre (19.078 when he debuted in June 1998) was the last position player that young.

A look the 19-year-olds who have played in the big leagues since 2000:

-- Trout played 14 games with the Angels last July, hitting just .163 with a .492 OPS.

-- Justin Upton was 23 days shy of his 20th birthday when the Diamondbacks called him up in 2007.

-- Hernandez came to the big leagues to stay at age 19.

-- B.J. Upton was 18 days shy of his 20th birthday when he debuted with the Rays in August 2004.

-- Jose Reyes debuted with the Mets the day before he turned 20 in June 2003.

-- Wilson Betemit came up with the Braves as a 19-year-old in September 2001.

With Brandon Inge struggling at third base, the Tigers have acquired Wilson Betemit from the Royals in a deal for two minor leaguers, the teams announced Wednesday.

To get Betemit, who hit .281 in 57 games for the Royals, the Tigers gave up a pair of players who were in Class A, pitcher Antonio Cruz and catcher Julio Rodriguez. Neither was considered to be one of the team's top prospects.

The Tigers have had just a .500 OPS out of their third basemen (mostly Inge, but also Don Kelly) this year. The only team worse has been the Mariners (mostly Chone Figgins), at .463.

The Tigers signed Inge to a two-year, $11.5 million contract last winter, but he has been awful offensively all season. Inge is hitting just .177, and has hit only one home run.

Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski told reporters in Detroit that he considers Kelly to be ahead of Inge on the Tigers' depth chart at third base. Dombrowski said that the Tigers would make a roster move once Betemit reports on Thursday, while refusing to commit on Inge's future with the team.

The Tigers went to the World Series with Inge as their third baseman in 2006, but he hit 27 home runs that year. He hit 27 again in 2009, but slipped to 13 last year and had just the one in 215 at-bats this season.