What to Expect From Washington Nationals Rookie Dylan Crews Next Season

The Washington Nationals called up their top prospect to end the year in the Majors, but what should they expect from Dylan Crews in 2025?

Sep 15, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals center fielder Dylan Crews (3) waits for a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the seventh inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images / Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

The 2023 MLB draft featured some of the highest touted prospects in quite some time, from Paul Skenes, Wyatt Langford, and of course, the Washington Nationals outfielder selected with the second overall pick, Dylan Crews.

Crews and Skenes were teammates on the LSU Tigers, helping lead the team to the NCAA Championship in their final year with the program.

Crews played in 35 games in the minor leagues for the Nationals in 2023 across three levels, finishing with the Double-A Harrisburg Senators. The outfielder batted .292/.377/.467 in 159 plate appearances over that stretch with five home runs and 29 RBI.

He entered the 2024 season as a top 10 prospect, beginning the year at Harrisburg. After 51 games with a .789 OPS, the organization promoted their young prospect to Triple-A Rochester, where he played 49 games before getting the call to the Majors.

In 100 minor league games in 2024, Crews batted .270/.342/.451 across 449 plate appearances with 13 home runs and 68 RBI.

Debuting on Aug. 26, Crews went 0-for-3 with one walk and one strikeout in the first game of a three-game series against the New York Yankees. In game two, Crews recorded his first Major League hit, a double off of Gerrit Cole in the second inning, registering at 104.4 MPH off the bat. He finished 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base.

In game three he hit first Major League home run, a 399-foot no-doubter off of Carlos Rodon. It registered at 105.4 MPH off the bat, and Crews finished 2-for-4 with the home run, a double, two RBI, and two strikeouts.

The remainder of the year was not as kind for the young star. He finished the campaign with a .218/.288/.353 slash line across 132 plate appearances in 31 games with three home runs, eight RBI, and an 82 OPS+.

Crews is fast and he stole 12 bases in only 31 games, while only being caught three times.

What should Washington expect from their rookie outfielder in 2025?

While the surface numbers are unsightly, things are not as bleak as they may seem for Crews. He finished the year batting .218, but he also carried a ghastly .253 BABIP, well below the Major League average of .291. This gave him an xBA of .253, a difference of four hits.

His slugging percentage of .353 was not the best for someone expected to hit with power. He carried an xSLG of .418 for the year, though, which would give him eight more total bases. Spread across the four extra hits from his xBA that could give him one more home run and two more doubles, or a number of other combinations.

Crews showed good plate discipline in his short time in the Majors, with a chase rate of only 26.6%, a whiff rate of only 22.8%, and a strikeout rate of only 19.7%, all ranking above league average. His walk rate was only 8.3%, 0.1 better than league average. But with the plate discipline he showed among the other metrics, that is sure to increase with more plate appearances.

Fastballs and offspeed offerings were the outfielder's bread and butter, batting .288 on fastballs and .250 on offspeed pitches. On the other hand, breaking balls were his kryptonite, batting only .098 on those offerings.

Crews is an interesting case study with such a small sample size against Major League pitching. But the underlying metrics are promising for what is to come for the young outfielder.

He has shown that he is not afraid of facing the biggest names in the game, with his first hit being a double off of Cole, and his first home run coming off of Rodon. And as a member of the National League East, he will be facing some of the biggest names in the game with regularity.

The Nationals should see their young phenom find his footing on the big stage in 2025. While he may not reach his full potential that soon, he should take a massive step forward with enough live reps. A Rookie of the Year Award is certainly not out of the question, and his final batting line should be much closer to .270/.360/.480 with 22 home runs, 74 RBI, and 46 stolen bases.