Dylan Crews is already making strides to the big leagues, even though he is less than a year removed from playing college baseball. He’s showing the Nationals a glimpse of what they hope will be a franchise face for years to come.
The overall number two pick in the 2023 MLB draft and former LSU tiger, Crews earned a nine million dollar signing bonus. It was second highest only behind his previous LSU teammate pitcher Paul Skenes.
An incredibly highly touted prospect from a very young age, as he was a part of Team USA’s 14u and 18u gold medal winning team, Crews was ranked #13 in the nation by Perfect Game out of high school. He was the highest of that group that actually attended college in his class.
A 2019 Perfect Game All-American Classic Player and a 2019 Under Armour All-American, Crews was Perfect Game’s National Collegiate Freshman of the Year in 2021. He earned about every single award out there in his senior year of college. A consensus first-team All American, College World Series All-Tournament team pick, SEC player of the year and male athlete of the year, Crews put everyone on notice. Not to mention that he also won the 2023 Golden Spikes Award, which is awarded to the best amateur baseball player in the United States.
Even though he has never played a major league game, he is already making a name for himself less than a year after being drafted. In only 35 games in the minors last fall, Crews worked his way up from rookie ball to AA. In 137 at bats across the three different levels, he hit .292, slashing five home runs and bringing in 29 runs.
In his first Spring Training as a non-roster invitee, as baseball’s No. 7 overall by MLB Pipeline, Crews is already showing off his skillset. Crews, who blasted 58 home runs during his collegiate career, hit his first Spring Training one earlier this week in his eighth game. It might have taken a little longer than he would have liked it to, but it is sure to be the first of many.
“I was hoping a little sooner than later, but it felt good to get a barrel in and help the team win today,” Crews said. “I think the off-day helped a lot, just physically and mentally to kind of get the feet underneath me again.”
Early on in the spring, he has scored four hits across his 14 plate appearances and stole two bags. For only being around Crews for a very short time, Nationals manager Davey Martinez already likes what he sees from the young outfielder.
“He stays in the middle of the field, he’s got a lot of power to all fields,” manager Dave Martinez said. “But to see him stay on a couple balls today like that was really, really impressive. It was a good day for him. He’s a baseball player — he’s [the] first one in the cage, he comes ready to play.”
The future looks bright for the 22 year old outfielder and he has the possibility to make his Major League debut sooner rather than later if he can transfer his success last fall to a full season in 2024.
