Let’s start by saying there is still plenty to love about Dylan Crews. He plays the game with a fire and intensity that this team needs more of. Crews is an aggressive but smart player. He is also a natural leader who says all the right things in a way you can believe. However, all of that rings a little hollow when you are hitting under .200.
That is what Crews is doing right now. For the season, he is hitting just .197. There have been times where it looks like he is about to put it all together,
but he is never able to do it. Whether that is due to injury, or just falling back into a slump, it just does not happen.
We all know that Crews can be a spark plug when he is right. The team is livelier and more competitive when he is around. That is no coincidence. Crews plays the game the right way and has plenty of positives. On the bases and in the field, there is nothing to complain about.
However, at the end of the day, the bat is what matters most and that has come up short. Ever since he was drafted, the bat has been a little underwhelming. While he put up solid numbers in the Minors, they were not elite. For his MILB career, he hit .273 with an .800 OPS. That is nothing to scoff at, but given his hype, those are underwhelming.
Let’s talk about that hype because it is important to the story. Even for a second overall pick, Dylan Crews was a big deal. At LSU, he was seen as one of the best college hitting prospects in years. He hit .380 across three seasons with the Tigers.
In his junior year, Crews hit .426 and led the Tigers to a National Championship. Until his college teammate Paul Skenes turned into a generational pitching prospect, Crews was seen as the no doubt number one pick. Skenes turning into one of baseballs elite pitchers already also adds pressure for Dylan Crews.
That context makes his struggles more concerning. Sure, fans need to be patient, but this was a player that was supposed to be as safe as they come. Scouts said that he could be a plus-plus hitter with plus power. That plus-plus hitting ability has been nowhere to be found in his pro career, especially this season.
While Crews is still hitting the ball fairly hard, there are some things he really needs to clean up in his offensive game. The two biggest ones are his ground ball heavy game and his swing and miss issues.
The ground ball problems are not new. Even back in his college days, those who were bearish on him brought up all of the ground balls. In the Minors, he hit more grounders than you would like to see. However, those numbers have ballooned in his MLB career. This season Crews is hitting the ball on the ground 51.3% of the time. It is tough to live like that in the MLB where fielding is so good.
He is always going to be a higher ground ball guy. It is not ideal, but there are high ground ball players who are very good hitters. However, one thing that has popped up this season that is even more concerning is the swing and miss.
Whiffs were not supposed to be a part of Crews’ game. In college, his hit tool was seen as elite and while it was not elite in the minors, it was still good. His strikeout rate was in the low 20’s, which is fine. Even in his cup of coffee in the MLB, strikeouts were not the issue. Crews struck out just under 20% of the time in his MLB stint last year. This year that number is over 26%, which is bad for a guy who has good but not elite power.
The biggest culprit is actually fastballs. Before the season, the biggest question about Crews’ offensive game was his ability to hit spin. While that is still a work in progress, he is doing a little better against breaking balls than he did last year.
However, the one thing we thought we knew about Crews was that he crushed fastballs. Last year, Crews whiffed at under 10% of the heaters he saw in the MLB. This year that number has exploded to 26.6%. That is highly unusual and tells me something is up with his timing. Going from a guy who barely ever misses fastballs to a guy who is consistently whiffing at them is weird.
This offseason, Crews is going to have to get in the lab and figure out what went wrong. His swing and set up just looks off right now. He looks uncomfortable in the box and it is causing him to miss hittable fastballs. In his first at bat yesterday, Crews whiffed at a center cut heater to strikeout. Swinging and missing at that kind of pitch raises red flags for me. Next year he just has to be better.
While it might not be a make it or break year for Crews, 2026 is pretty close to that for the LSU star. There is a lot of pressure on him to perform because of all the expectations placed on him.
Another thing that is becoming a factor is Wyatt Langford. Langford was another SEC star in the 2023 draft. He went a couple picks after Crews and has had a much better start to his MLB career. Given the Nats struggles in the draft over the past decade, fans are very aware of this.
This is not the time to give up on Crews. With his speed and defense, the bat does not have to be elite for Crews to be a highly valuable player. However, the bat has to show more life than it has this season.
After he got back from injury, I thought he would make a statement to close out the season. Prove that he is in fact that guy. However, Crews has continued his offensive ineptitude since returning to the lineup. In fact, his OPS since coming back is lower than it was before the injury.
Before getting hurt, Crews had a .620 OPS, which was underwhelming. Surely that would get better after his absence. Sadly, it has not. Crews has a .589 OPS in 20 games since returning.
To be blunt, we need much more from Dylan Crews. As his college career fades into the rear view mirror, he needs to give us reasons to have faith. In his pro career, he has not been the hitter he was advertised to be.
2026 is such a massive year for him. Dylan Crews needs to give fans a reason to believe in him. He has the look and feel of a very good player, but he does not have the numbers of one. At the end of the day, the MLB is a numbers based business. Dylan Crews needs to put up good numbers in 2026 if he wants to remain a core piece of the Washington Nationals.
