When I think of Daylen Lile, I think of a couple things. The first is his beautiful swing and natural hitting ability. We have gushed about that all season long. The other thing I think about is the image of Lile flying around second base with his helmet off, motoring into third base for a triple.
That is something Lile does a lot. His seven triples this year are tied for 7th in all of baseball despite the fact Lile spent a big chunk of the season in the Minor Leagues. Between the minors and majors,
Lile has 12 triples on the season.
There are a couple things you need to do to master this art and Lile has figured it out. You need to have the ability to shoot the ball from gap to gap and you need to run hard out of the box.
Two of his most recent triples show both of those tools. Against the Marlins, he showed off his gap to gap power. He drove a ball to left centerfield just out of the reach of the center fielder. The ball skipped away and Lile was on his way to third for an easy triple. You need to be able to spray the ball around, often to weird parts of the park where balls aren’t usually hit to rack up triples. That is what Lile does.
The other way to get triples is through pure hustle. Yesterday, we saw that from Lile. He drove a ball to left center again, but this time it looked like an out. However, Pete Crow-Armstrong lost the ball in the sun and it dropped. With Lile sprinting out of the box, he was able to take full advantage and get to third base. A lot of triples are simply about taking advantage of mistakes and with his speed, Lile can do that.
This is not a new thing for Lile. Throughout his Minor League career, Daylen Lile has been a triple maestro. In his two full Minor League seasons, Lile had 10 triples each year. For his Minor League career, Lile has 25 triples, which is highly impressive. This tells me that his MLB numbers are no fluke.
He has been working on the art of hitting a triple for many years. From a young age, he was clearly taught to run hard out of the box. Having an 89th percentile sprint speed helps him out as well.
Despite seeming pretty random, the top of the triples leaderboard has actually been fairly stable the last three years. Guys like Bobby Witt Jr., Corbin Carroll and Jarren Duran have dominated the triples leaderboard the last few years. Right now Corbin Carroll is the king of the triple, but Lile could be coming for his crown.
One other factor that helps guys like Carroll and Duran, but could work against Lile is home ballpark. Both Fenway Park and Chase Field have strange dimensions that create weird bounces which make triples easier. Nationals Park is more cookie cutter, so those triples could be tougher to come by for Lile.
One thing is clear though, hitting triples is a skill that some guys just have. Lile is one of those guys and should be a fixture at the top of the triples leaderboard. Hitting those triples is actually a very useful skill, especially with fewer than two outs.
It means you can be driven in by a sac fly, wild pitch or rbi ground out. This puts a ton of pressure on the defense. We saw that in the Marlins game about a week ago. Lile hit that RBI triple and then he was driven by the next batter on a sac fly. He created those runs and they ended up being all the Nats needed.
Daylen Lile has become one of my favorite Nationals over the course of the season. Sure, he needs work on the defensive side of the ball, but he can really hit. The triples are just one club in a very deep offensive bag. Today, he showed another dimension of his game by homering, which ended up winning the Nats the game.
As we have talked about, there are a lot of outfielders vying for playing time in DC. Outside of James Wood, none of them have shown more than Lile. He has the look of a guy who can hit .300. One guy Lile really reminds me of is Michael Brantley. Both are pure hitting corner outfielders with enough power to keep guys honest. Brantley was a key cog in a lot of winning teams, so hopefully Lile can live up to that.
With all the young guys who are struggling, it is awesome to see a 22 year old look so comfortable at the plate. With that swing, his slumps should never last too long, knock on wood of course. While there is more to his game, Lile has really mastered the art of the triple.
