Washington Nationals news & notes: Dylan Crews makes MLB debut in Nats’ 5-2 loss to New York Yankees…

Dylan Crews made his MLB debut last night in a 5-2 loss for the Nationals in the first of three with the NY Yankees in D.C.

“Dylan [Crews] is a really good player, good tools, great make-up kid,” Kris Kline, then the Nationals’ Assistant GM and VP of Scouting Ops and current Special Assistant to GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo, told reporters after Washington picked Crews No. 2 overall in the 2023 Draft out of LSU coming off a win in the College World Series.

“[He] runs well, strong arm, kind of an advanced college hitter. He’s got the hardware to go with it, two-time SEC Player of the Year,” Kline added.

“He’s really an advanced hitter. When Dylan is locked in he’s very skilled at driving the ball to right-center, and working the middle of the diamond, and I think as he progresses in the minor leagues and at the major league level, you’re going to see him start to pull the ball more, and I think that’s where the power will start to come into play.”

The organization’s top prospect and the No. 3 overall player on MLB Pipeline’s list of the top prospects in the game, Crews hit, “.270 with 21 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs, 68 RBI[s], 36 walks, 25 stolen bases, and 60 runs scored in 100 games between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester this season,” as the Nationals noted in the press release announcing Crews’s promotion to the majors.

The opportunity came at the end of a solid run by the 22-year-old outfielder, who had a .309/.385/.529, two doubles, a triple, and four home runs in his last 16 games, reaching base safely in all 16 with his in 13 of 16.

“Crews, I think has come as advertised,” Rizzo said in an MLB Network Radio interview last week, before the news Crews was coming up came out.

“He’s a very skillful, polished player, that is kind of just refining his skills. I think he’s been a better offensive player at the Triple-A level than he was at the Double-A level, and I think that as he gets to the higher levels, he’ll continue to improve, and he’ll be an impact player offensively, defensively — baserunning, he’s really a well-rounded player that you can build around.”

Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez told reporters before last night’s game Crews would handle all of the hype of his debut like a pro.

“He’s a baseball player,” Martinez said. “We’ve seen him play in college, they won some championships over there. He went through the minor leagues, worked his way to having good at-bats, played the outfield really well, so he’s going to get a chance up here to play up here, play him every day and see where he’s at.”

Crews earned the opportunity, he stressed, and now he’ll get to test himself against major league competition for the next five weeks.

“He went through Double-A, did well, went to Triple-A, was hitting the ball really well,” the manager said. “The biggest thing when it comes to hitting here, is accepting your walks, the chasing, so we’re going to be keep an eye on that, and other than that we want him to be aggressive and go out and play baseball.”

His advice going into Crews’s debut and the series opener with the New York Yankees?

“I told him, ‘Hey, nothing changes here,’” Martinez said.

“‘I know you had a routine down there, stick to your routine and just go play baseball.’ Once the game starts, you’re just one of eight guys in the lineup and just go play.”

“There’s always going to be four bases and two foul poles,” Crews said of his approach in advance of his debut.

“I’m going out there and playing my game – and swinging at strikes, taking balls, and competing out there, controlling what I can control.”

Calm and collected as he seemed when he spoke with reporters, Crews did say he had a moment where the gravity of the situation hit him.

“It’s weird,” he said. “This is going to be my job every day. I’m walking in here, and I’m going to a major league stadium and this is going to be my job – it’s just kind of hard to wrap your head around. But it’s going to be awesome.”

From the College World Series in June of 2023, to the draft in July of ‘23, and Double-A and Triple-A this season, to the majors now, it’s been a quick rise for Crews, who said he’ll try to continue doing what he’s done from LSU to D.C.

His approach?

“Never let any moment get bigger than what it is. Just try to go out there and compete and play every single day like every game is the same. Nothing changes today,” he said.

Crews, wearing No. 3, batting second, and playing right field last night, took the first pitch he saw in the majors, inside for a ball, then lined a high fastball from Yankees’ lefty Nestor Cortes to right field for an out in his first plate appearance.

He walked the second time up, taking four straight balls after starting 0-1 on a called strike.

CJ Abrams and Crews K’d swinging with no one, and one out, respectively, after the club put runners on second and third in the first two at-bats of the sixth, 0 for 2, BB for Crews.

A groundout on a 2-2 sinker up high from right-handed reliever Jake Cousins left Crews 0 for 3 with a walk in a 5-2 loss in Nationals Park.

“Playing against the Yankees, playing against [Aaron] Judge and [Juan] Soto for the first time, it was a pretty surreal moment going out there,” Crews said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman after the series opener in D.C.

“And obviously playing with my new team, the Nationals, it’s a great feeling. I’m just going to come out tomorrow and do it all over again.”