Should Nationals Be Concerned About Brutal Start for Top Prospect?

The Washington Nationals have had a very rough start to the season for their rookie.

Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals are off to a 1-5 start, which has been a bit frustrating since the team has gotten close to winning some games, but have not fully clicked to secure potential victories.

There have been numerous reasons as to why the Nationals have not been winning in the first week, although a lack of consistent offense is near, if not at the top of the list.

With 21 runs on the season so far, Washington is currently outside the top-20 across all of baseball.
The rate at which the lineup is producing is simply not going to be enough for the team to have any sort of playoff push.

When an offense is struggling, it never falls just one one person, but with that being said, the Nationals had their hopes tied heavily into their top prospect, Dylan Crews, producing.

Crews has yet to record a hit so far this season, slashing .000/.053/.000 with just one walk and 10 strikeouts in 19 plate appearances.

Fans have a tendency to overreact to the start of the season, and it must be noted that this is still an incredibly small sample size for Crews.

Still, should Washington be at least concerned?

Crews played 31 games in the 2024 season, slashing .219/.288/.353, though he did hit three home runs and only struck out 26 times in 132 plate appearances.

It should be noted that Crews really did not spend a lot of time in the minor leagues, making it worth asking the question as to whether or not the Nationals rushed him to The Show too quickly.

In really what amounts to less than one full season in the minors, he did not dominate at the plate like one would expect from a top prospect.

Playing 100 games in 2024 in Double-A and Triple-A before being called up, Crews slashed .270/.342/.451 with 13 home home and 68 RBI, numbers that are solid -- and trending upwards before the call up to The Show -- but don't exactly jump off the page that would suggest he was ready for Major League Baseball.

Placing a ton of faith in Crews to figure it out at the big league level is a tall ask for a player who started just a total of 135 games in the minors.

The rough start this season is not worth a full blown panic over -- at least not yet -- but it's certainly worth keeping an eye on as the year goes on.