What Dylan Crews Needs to Prove to the Nationals During This MLB Stint

After being recalled to the major league roster on Tuesday, Dylan Crews is officially in the Washington Nationals' starting lineup for Game 2 of their four-game set against the New York Mets.

It didn't seem like that was going to be a headline coming into this season. Crews, the second overall pick of the 2023 draft, arrived to The Show in 2024 and was a staple in the lineup when he was healthy. However, following his struggles last season and throughout spring training, this new regime opted to start him in Triple-A this year.

Now, after looking like an improved offensive player based on better results and an evolved approach at the plate, Crews has returned to the MLB with the goal of living up to his billing as a franchise cornerstone. For that to happen, he has to prove to the Nationals that he can do these three things.

Make More Contact With the Ball

Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

A major thing Crews has to show when he's facing MLB pitchers once again is that he can make consistent contact with the ball. His inability to do so has plagued him thus far, and it's a main reason why his major league career hasn't gone as expected.

Across 116 games in the bigs, he has a chase rate of 28.4% and a whiff rate of 26.7%. His poor swing decisions and inconsistency when it comes to making contact are causes for his strikeout and walk rates to be 22.5% and 7.7%, respectively. All of that has played a part in his batting average being .211, which is way too low for someone of his caliber and hitting acumen.

One of the concerns about Crews getting recalled at this point in time is that his chase and whiff rates were actually higher in Triple-A with figures of 30.3% and 33.7%, respectively, than his career marks in the MLB. While he was able to be a more effective hitter in the minors this season, it's not clear if that will carry over to the bigs if he's still not able to make consistent contact with the ball. With that in mind, how he looks during his at-bats will be something to keep an eye on.

Drive the Ball in the Air

When Crews does make contact, something that will help his numbers improve is actually getting the ball in the air more often. During his major league career, he has a ground ball rate of 52.1%. That is almost 11 points higher than the MLB average.

It seems like there have been some swing adjustments made with Rochester to start the year, though. Across 41 games, his ground ball rate improved to 45.5%. While that might not seem like a huge enhancement, it could go a long way to unlocking his power, which is something that has been sorely lacking during his time as a professional.

Improve His Slug

Crews doesn't have to return to the lineup and immediately start blasting balls over the fence, but he has to increase his slugging percentage during this stint in the majors. For his career, he's slugged .352 with only 13 total home runs and 29 extra-base hits. That has to improve if he's going to be an everyday player, let alone a star.

There are signs that a power surge could be coming for Crews. At Triple-A, he had a hard-hit rate of 55.0% with an average exit velocity of 94.7 mph. That is a massive improvement compared to last year in the MLB when he hit the ball hard 38.7% of the time and had an average exit velocity of 89.7 mph. Combining his improved hard-hit rate and exit velocity with driving the ball in the air more often should increase his slug, which would turn him into a more dangerous hitter than he has been.

All in all, Crews doesn't need to come in and immediately start performing like an MVP candidate for him to stick on Washington's roster. But if he can show an improvement in making contact while also driving the ball in the air more often to increase his slugging percentage, then that could be everything the Nationals are looking for to keep him up in The Show for the rest of the year.

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