Nationals’ Future Success Hinges on Dylan Crews Living Up to the Hype
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The Washington Nationals appear to have both left and center field figured out, at least for now. James Wood announced himself as one of premier power hitters in the league in 2025, and Jacob Young has become one of the better defenders in baseball.
There's young talent all around the diamond, but they have yet to solidify a true right fielder. They have two pretty high upside options, but neither has taken hold of the job.
For the Nationals, one rookie really made himself known while a top pick, Dylan Crews, struggled to get going with even more time in the big leagues during 2025.
Washington Nationals 2025 Right Field in Review
- Offense: Dylan Crews (.208/.280/.352, 85 G, 8 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 27 RBI, 17 SB, 24 BB, 76 K, .631 OPS, 79 OPS+, 0.4 bWAR), Daylen Lile (.299/.347/.498, 91 G, 15 2B, 11 3B, 9 HR, 41 RBI, 8 SB, 21 BB, 56 K, .845 OPS, 137 OPS+, 0.7 bWAR).
- Defense (Baseball Savant): Crews ( 3 Outs Above Average, -2 Arm Value, 86.7 mph Arm Strength, 713 innings, .964 Fielding Percentage, 7 Errors), Lile (-8 OAA, -2 AV, 84.6 mph, 624.1 Inn, .994 Fld%, 2 E).
Season Notes
Dylan Crews set quite a few career highs with more of a season this year with 10 home runs, 27 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. Despite that, his batting average and OPS were lower than 2024. Defensively, he led all right fielders in errors
Daylen Lile is under consideration for Rookie of the Year. His 11 triples were the third most in a single season in Nationals history and the most by a rookie. His 41 RBIs were the fifth most on the team by the end of the season in just 91 games. Lile's 137 OPS+ was the highest on the team, with a minimum of 200 plate appearances.
An Early Look at Right Field in 2026
The Nationals took Dylan Crews second overall in 2023 to become the next star hitter for the team and be part of their future outfield. So far, one of the "safer" prospects of the last few years has yet to acclimate to big league pitching.
By a lot of metrics, Crews was worse in his second season. His batting average dropped to .208, and both his OPS+ (79) and 0.4 bWAR were lower than last season. The 23-year-old did miss a little more than two months with an oblique injury.
After another pretty poor, injury-riddled season, the Nationals need Crews to take a real step forward in 2025. In order for the Nationals rebuild to continue being successful, they need to hit on developing players, especially high draft picks. They invested a lot in Crews, so they're depending on his success.
A fully healthy season for him next year, where he's successful at the plate, could earn him the job in right field full-time, mainly because of his defense. With three OAA, Crews is at least above average, which gives him an edge over the poor defense of Daylen Lile.
But that's what makes right field so complicated. Lile came into the year and arguably became the team's second-best hitter behind James Wood. He did a little bit of everything at the plate, including breaking Washington's rookie triples record.
Lile's bat was so good that the Nationals had to get it in the lineup, but that comes at the cost of defense in right. That means they'll have to find a way to get both of their bats in the lineup because of Lile's offense and Crews' ceiling and draft status.
Washington could opt to platoon them next year, but at some point, they'd like for both of them to be in the lineup. This battle for right field might be the most interesting storyline in camp come Spring Training.
