Nationals Struggling Future Star Remains NL Rookie of the Year Contender
The Washington Nationals are a rebuilding team, making their 1-5 start disappointing, but not a major surprise.
Most of the Nationals lineup is struggling, but no one more than phenom Dylan Crews, who is still searching for his first hit of the season.
Not only is Crews hitless through the team's first six games, but he's struck out in 10 of his 18 at-bats. That's a 62.5% strikeout rate, which, according to Statcast, is in the bottom 1% of the entire league.
Crews has only made contact on five of the 62 pitches he's seen, while getting the barrel on the ball just once to date.
Not only is the future centerpiece of Washington baseball off to the slowest start possible, but there aren't any silver linings behind his struggles.
Despite that, the Nationals' outfielder hasn't lost significant ground in the National League Rookie of the Year race, because the other contenders are also enduring tough times.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki has already started two games due to the team opening the year in Japan. He has a 5.79 ERA in just 4.2 innings over those outings for the undefeated, 8-0 Dodgers.
Some of Sasaki's underlying metrics match his poor production through his first two starts. His 81.5% exit velocity is in the top 9% in the league while his 34.6% walk rate is in the bottom 2% of MLB.
On the bright side, the rookie pitcher's average velocity on his fastball sits around 97 mph while both his splitter and slider have at least a 50% whiff rate. He's walking too many hitters and opponents are consistently hitting the ball hard, but at least Sasaki's stuff is in line with expectations.
His second start came against the Detroit Tigers, which was the rookie's debut at Dodger Stadium. He was pulled after just 1.2 innings where cameras caught him being visibly upset in the dugout. His emotional reaction has gotten backlash from a number of former players, and, for better or worse, that optic will likely stick with award voters come season's end.
Chicago Cubs infielder Matt Shaw is the other primary contender in the NL Rookie of the Year race.
He is slashing .206/.308/.324 with a homer after nine games. Shaw is outproducing the other chief contenders in this race, but he hasn't done enough to take a meaningful lead.
Ultimately, Sasaki is struggling while Shaw isn't exactly setting the world on fire himself.
For a player that is still searching for his first hit, Crews is still in a strong position to contend for the NL Rookie of the Year.
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Ryan Reynolds has worked in sports media since 2019, where he’s primarily covered the NFL. He got his start writing for Evan Silva and Adam Levitan’s Establish the Run where Ryan became an authority on NFL awards markets. Ryan recently served as an Associate Director and content headliner for former NFL executives Joe Banner and Mike Tannenbaum at The 33rd Team. Ryan has also made multiple guest appearances on Fantasy Sports Radio on SiriusXM and VSiN. Outside of sports Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in accounting, graduating with honors from the University of Minnesota. He now has nearly a decade’s worth of experience in management. You can find Ryan on X @RyanReynoldsNFL or email him at RyanReynoldsNFL@gmail.com.