Always good to get the local perspective on any draft pick, just in case you didn’t see all the ebbs and flows of a pick’s career – and that’s why Chris Russell had Jimmy Ott from ESPN Radio Baton Rouge join him on Tuesday to discuss No. 2 overall MLB Draft Pick Dylan Crews!
It seems like Crews could be a candidate to make his MLB debut sometime in 2024, which would be a fast track, but if he does, the Nationals will be getting a thumper who can stick in center field.
“I’ve been following the LSU baseball program since 1980, so we’ve seen some real good ones come through; Brandon Larson may have had the best single-season, but Dylan Crews did something no one in the SEC had ever done in winning back-to-back Conference Player of the Year Awards,” Ott said. “He has power to all fields, even though he’s not a huge guy, but he’s a true power hitter, and his bat speed allows him to maximize that. And, he’s fast enough to play center field; he doesn’t have the fluidity or instincts of an elite center fielder, but he’s always there, and you rarely see him misplay a ball.”
Crews was a career .383 hitter, which is a product of him being able to go to all fields, and Ott called him somewhat “shift-proof,” which will he thinks will translate to the pro level.
“Sometimes he does it in sort of an unspectacular way, if that makes sense, where he just does things consistently,” Ott said. “He went through a little rut for about three weekends, but he snapped out of it.”
And, the Nats got a player who is as dedicated off the field to the craft as on.
“He’s always had his eyes on baseball, he’s conducted himself like a pro since he’s been here, and he never gets too high or low – his mental makeup reminds me a lot of Alex Bregman,” Ott said. “His work ethic and professionalism…you won’t hear about him stepping out of line like some college athletes. He’s a safe bet in terms of being a big character guy.”
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Sounds great, but there was one thing Rooster wanted to know: does Crews have any of that
"Completely different from Harper in both skill set and mental approach," Ott said. "Crews has that even keel where he won't be counterproductive to his game. He's very mature; he gets excited sometimes, but not to the level of what we're used to seeing with college athletes. He expects to do it, and goes about his business, because he knows you're going to have peaks and ruts over the course of a season."
Take a listen to Ott’s entire breakdown of Crews above!
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