Washington Nationals news & notes: Dylan Crews – Small Sample Size assessment…

Davey Martinez liked what he saw from Dylan Crews while the 22-year-old outfielder was in the majors…

Dylan Crews, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, made his debut on August 28th, so any discussion of his numbers requires acknowledging the small sample size we are dealing with, but…

In the leadoff spot in the lineup, while CJ Abrams was either struggling, out of the lineup, or in West Palm Beach, after a real abrupt end to his season, Crews put up a .145/.213/.261 line in 75 plate appearances.

Batting second (25 PAs), Crew finished at .174/.240/.174.

Batting 7th?: .333/.375/.619 in 24 PAs.

“I think it’s a little less pressure for him,” Davey Martinez told reporters before the next-to-last game of the season (in which Crews hit 6th). “He’s a guy that he studies pitchers, so I think just him watching how a pitcher attacks hitters sometimes can help a young hitter.

“But I think all in all he’s going to be a kid that we probably want him to hit, as he develops, up in the top of the lineup. He can do some really good things.”

Martinez mentioned the way Crews went about studying pitchers several times in the last month-plus, and on the penultimate day of the season the manager talked at length about what he saw from the 22-year-old top prospect while he was in the majors.

“I watch him — he’s one young kid where he’s engaged in the game,” Martinez said, “… watching the game, watching everything. Watching how guys get attacked. Watching positioning, all that stuff. He’s really engaged on how other pitchers attack our hitters.

“Whether it’s right-handed or left-handed. He’s watching spin, whether a guy throws a changeup. Their fastball usage. All that stuff.”

“He’s the guy sitting at the top of the dugout watching pitches,” the skipper said in early September, “… watching the pitcher work, what he does, watching our at-bats.”

As Martinez described it, Crews’s unique-these-days approach is a throwback to the way players did things before iPads in the dugouts, and instant footage of what pitchers are doing and what they’ve done.

“I always say that’s old school,” Martinez said. “I mean, he’s not running to the iPad. He’s sitting there and he’s learning by watching the game, which is pretty cool.”

And the benefits of that old school approach to studying pitchers?

“You learn a lot by watching the games,” the veteran of 16 seasons as a player in the majors and seven now as a manager explained.

“It’s the way I was brought up as a player, and people before me and even people after me.

“You can still learn a lot from the iPad, but if you watch the game, the game can tell you a lot. And he does that. He watches pitchers, how [they] attack right-handed hitters, what they’re trying to do, the spin on the ball, and the changeup, how it’s working. He led off the other day and he went right to [Andrés] Chaparro and was telling him, ‘Hey, his slider has a little more bite than we thought, so get the ball up,’ so it was awesome to hear him talk about it. He’s a student. He pays attention to detail.

“As you know, I like to listen to players before I put my two cents into things. But it’s great to communicate, especially with him, because he understands what he’s trying to do.”

GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo too liked what he saw from Crews in his first exposure in the majors, telling Audacy’s The Sports Junkies in an early September interview Crews showed he belonged in the big leagues.

“I think he’s shown his skillset very clearly and it’s the consistency that needs improvement like just about every young player that we’ve ever had here,” Rizzo told the Junkies.

“He’s got the skillset and the temperament and the makeup to be a successful big-time player in the big leagues. And I think he’s done terrific in a very short [span],” Rizzo continued. “I think he’s shown everything he needs to show that he belongs here. And now he has to deal with the consistency angle and the everyday stuff of this major league season.

“He’s got a lot to learn, [he’s] just scratching the surface, but I think he’s going to be a really good player for us.”