Dylan Crews
Washington Nationals – No. 3
Outfielder
Born: (2002-02-26) February 26, 2002
Altamonte Springs, Florida, U.S.
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Career highlights and awards

Dylan Gray Crews (born February 26, 2002) is an American professional baseball outfielder in the Washington Nationals organization. He was selected second overall by the Nationals in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft.

Crews was born and raised in the Central Florida region and attended Lake Mary High School, where he played four years of varsity baseball. He was considered a top Major League Baseball (MLB) draft prospect out of high school but withdrew himself from consideration to attend LSU. In his first year at the school, Crews ranked highly in several Southeastern Conference hitting leaderboards and received media honors. He was a consensus first-team All-American and was named co-SEC Player of the Year in his sophomore year. Crews spent two years with the United States national collegiate baseball team.

Early life

Crews attended Lake Mary High School in Lake Mary, Florida.[1] During his amateur career, he played for USA Baseball twice, once on their 14U team and once on their 18U team that won a gold medal.[2] As a junior in 2019, he batted .389 with 15 stolen bases.[3] That summer, he played in the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game at Wrigley Field.[4] Although his senior season in 2020 was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was considered a top prospect for the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.[5] However, he withdrew his name a week before, announcing he would fulfill his commitment to play college baseball at Louisiana State University.[6][7][8]

College career

Crews immediately became LSU's starting right fielder as a freshman in 2021.[9] He started 63 games during the season, batting .362 with 18 home runs, 42 RBIs, 16 doubles, and 12 stolen bases.[10] His 18 home runs were the most ever by a LSU freshman, surpassing Mike Fontenot's previous record of 17.[11] He earned All-American honors and was named National Freshman of the Year by Perfect Game.[12][13] He was named to the United States national baseball team after the season.[14] He also briefly played for the Sanford River Rats of the Florida Collegiate Summer League.[15] In 2022, Crews shifted to center field.[16] He was named the co-Southeastern Conference Baseball Player of the Year alongside Sonny DiChiara.[17] He finished the season having played in 62 games with a .349/.463/.691 slash line with 22 home runs and 72 RBIs.[18] Following the season's end, he was invited and returned to play with USA Baseball.[19] In 2023, Crews batted .426 with 18 homers, 70 RBIs, and 100 runs scored and helped lead LSU to win the 2023 Men's College World Series.

Crews was considered a top prospect for the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. The MLB Pipeline ranking on MLB.com listed Crews as the best draft prospect available and projected him to be selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates.[20] Baseball America, FanSided, and Perfect Game also projected Crews to be selected first overall.[21][22][23] FanGraphs ranked him as the third-best prospect in the draft.[24]

Professional career

Crews was selected by the Washington Nationals with the 2nd overall selection of the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. On July 21, 2023, Crews signed with the Nationals for a $9 million signing bonus.[25] On August 4, 2023, Crews was promoted to the Class-A Fredericksburg Nationals after one game in the Florida Complex League, where he went 3-for-3. On August 20, 2023, Crews was promoted to the Double-A Harrisburg Senators after posting a .355/.423/.645 slash line with the FredNats.[26]

Player profile

In his MLB.com draft profile, Crews has been described as "a plus hitter with plus power" with a "quick right-handed stroke" but was noted to have a tendency to whiff on changeups. The website also described Crews as an "at least average" outfielder with arm strength, an ability to track fly balls, and a potential to play center field at the major league level.[27]

Crews has been described as a five-tool player.[9] Former LSU head coach Paul Mainieri credited Crews with a preparedness for the college level that he compared to that of alumni DJ LeMahieu and Alex Bregman.[28]

References

  1. ↑ Carnahan, J.C (April 10, 2019). "Baseball prospects Riley Greene, Dylan Crews headline Hagerty vs. Lake Mary". Orlando Sentinel.
  2. ↑ Carnahan, J.C (April 30, 2019). "MLB and USA Baseball select three area players for new PDP League". Orlando Sentinel.
  3. ↑ Carnahan, J.C (June 7, 2019). "Seminole High's Matt Allan leads Sentinel baseball all-area teams". Orlando Sentinel.
  4. ↑ Callis, Jim (July 22, 2019). "Under Armour All-America Game top performers". MLB.com.
  5. ↑ Dogulas, Kendra (June 1, 2020). "Lake Mary standout chases after dreams no matter the route". WESH.
  6. ↑ Alexander, Wilson (June 3, 2020). "Dylan Crews says he'll play out his 'dream' with LSU after withdrawing from MLB Draft". The Advocate.
  7. ↑ Doucet, Jacques (June 3, 2020). "Outfielder Dylan Crews chooses LSU over MLB". WVUE-DT.
  8. ↑ Guilbeau, Glenn (June 9, 2020). "Much smaller Major League Baseball draft that opens Wednesday likely to not hurt LSU". The Daily Advertiser.
  9. 1 2 Alexander, Wilson (March 19, 2021). "Professional baseball can wait. Dylan Crews is taking over LSU". The Advocate.
  10. ↑ "All-America honors for LSU baseball players Landon Marceaux, Dylan Crews". WDSU. June 22, 2021.
  11. ↑ Crisman, Spencer (June 15, 2021). "LSU's Crews & Morgan named Freshman All-Americans". WAFB.
  12. ↑ "LSU's Dylan Crews named National Freshman of the Year by Perfect Game". The Advocate. June 19, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Dylan Crews named Freshman of the Year by Perfect Game". KATC. June 20, 2021.
  14. ↑ "LSU outfielder Dylan Crews named to USA Baseball 2021 Collegiate National Team". WGNO. July 1, 2021.
  15. ↑ Shipp, Sonny (July 6, 2021). "LSU Tigers in summer baseball leagues update". 247Sports.com.
  16. ↑ Leah, Vann (February 10, 2022). "LSU baseball notebook: Dylan Crews showing promise at center field; pitching taking shape". The Advocate.
  17. ↑ Leah, Vann (May 23, 2022). "LSU's Dylan Crews has been named co-SEC Player of the Year". The Advocate.
  18. ↑ "Crews, Morgan invited to join U.S. Collegiate National Team".
  19. ↑ "Crews and Morgan Invited to Join USA Collegiate National Team". June 9, 2022.
  20. ↑ Mayo, Jonathan (December 14, 2022). "Here's Pipeline's first full 2023 mock draft". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  21. ↑ Badler, Ben; Cahill, Teddy; Cooper, JJ; Pontes, Geoff; Collazo, Carlos. "Top 2023 MLB Draft Prospects". Baseball America. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  22. ↑ Treuden, Eric (December 21, 2022). "2023 MLB Mock Draft: Another look at the top-10, who's in and who's out?". FanSided. Minute Media. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  23. ↑ Sakowski, Brian; Cervino, Vincent; Burrows, Isaiah; Henninger, Tyler (November 4, 2022). "2023 MLB Mock Draft 1.0". Perfect Game. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  24. ↑ "2023 Draft Prospects". FanGraphs. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  25. ↑ "No. 2 MLB Draft pick Dylan Crews agrees to $9 million bonus with Nationals, per report". cbssports.com. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  26. ↑ DeRosa, Theo. "Crews skipping a level, heading for Double-A (source)". mlb.com. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  27. ↑ "Top Baseball Draft Prospects - Dylan Crews". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  28. ↑ Henderson, Adam (January 29, 2021). "Facial Hair, Fantastic Freshman, and Bright Futures". And The Valley Shook. SB Nation. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
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