Our own Grant Paulsen broke the news Friday that Nationals top prospect Dylan Crews will be called up Monday before the Nats’ home series with the Yankees, and hours later as part of the Beltway Blitz, we got a taste of what that could mean from another man on the scene: MASN’s Bobby Blanco, who doesn’t think the timing of this is a coincidence in two different ways.
“It's gonna be super exciting, and I don't really think it is a coincidence that he's gonna come up while they face the Yankees,” Blanco said. “I do think that there was some calculation behind this. We saw them do this with James Wood, where it leaked out the weekend before he made his debut on July 1, and they probably want to do the same thing where every fan has a chance to go buy tickets and get into their seats on Monday night. I know Monday is the first day of school for some kids around here, but hopefully some parents let them stay out a little late to go see Dylan Crews play Juan Soto and the Yankees.”
And a moment fans have been waiting for all season, anticipating its arrival, and especially since Wood did come up eight weeks ago.
“I think we've been waiting for this ever since James did come up. Dylan kind of followed the path with James, he played a similar amount of games in Rochester and he's been hot as of late, hitting over .300 this last month,” Blanco said. “He's just a guy that I think elevates his game to the level of play he's playing at, and he’s just meant to play underneath the spotlight. So Monday night against the Yankees, at home with James Wood in the outfield with him, with Juan Soto in the opposite dugout. I think is going to be a big spotlight for him and it's gonna be a lot of fun.”
Right now, Crews, who has been playing center most of the time, will play right field in deference to Jacob Young, who has excelled in the middle in DC – but Danny was curious that come, say, 2027, when some of the other outfield prospects (looking at you, Robert Hassell III) are ready and/or Young is going to start making some bigger cash, how does the outfield shake out?
“That is such a good question and I'm glad we don't have to answer it too much right now, but looking into my crystal ball, I think ideally, you have Crews playing center field and Wood still in left,” Blanco said. “I think if they want wanted to move James to right at some point, that would have already happened. I know everyone wants to point to the fact that Juan Soto is gonna be a free agent after this year, let's kind of trot out all of our top prospects and show him how good that this young Nationals team is about to be and maybe he’ll give them a chance, but a lot of things have to happen for that to come true. But if I’m looking two or three years down the line, I think Dylan moves to center at some point. Jacob Young is a Gold Glove, maybe even Platinum Glove-caliber center fielder, but I think Dylan is just better overall.”