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Nationals Breakout Star Daylen Lile Avoids Major Injury

Originally posted on Washington Nationals on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Sep 22, 2025 1:04 PM ET

While the Washington Nationals have largely stumbled to the finish line this season, one player has emerged as a rising star based what he has done in the closing months.

After beginning this year with Double-A Harrisburg, Daylen Lile has taken the baseball world by storm with his blazing speed on the basepaths that already has him owning the Nationals record for most triples hit by a rookie.

The 22-year-old has brought some serious juice to this lineup with his advanced hitting approach. And despite being almost an afterthought entering the season when it came to who will be part of the outfield of the future in Washington, it's going to be hard to not include Lile in that conversation going forward.

But his impressive debut campaign could have ended on a sour note, with him exiting in the third inning of Sunday's game following his collision with the wall.

Nationals standout rookie Daylen Lile has exited after a knee injury pic.twitter.com/IkYmLfygFm
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 21, 2025

While there are only a few games remaining in the season and the Nationals aren't playing for anything, this franchise didn't need to have one of their rising stars go down after they have endured so many long-term injuries to multiple other top prospects.

Thankfully, it appears like Lile avoided anything major, with Jessica Camerato of MLB.com reporting that he didn't need to undergo an X-ray and "his treatment will include ice, elevation, movement and use of a Normatec."

Considering what it could have been, that's the best possible update for Washington and Lile. Perhaps that should have been expected since he walked off under his own power instead of getting carted off. But it's still good to get confirmation that this injury scare was nothing major.

Daylen Lile Will Get Opportunity To Close Out Tremendous Rookie Season

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It's not clear when exactly Lile will be back on the field, but this shouldn't keep him in street clothes for the rest of the year. Whether or not he'll be able to officially set the franchise's record for most steals in a season after being currently tied with Denard Span at 11 is what everyone will have their eyes on when he returns.

Even if Lile doesn't set Nationals history, he still has had an incredible rookie year with a .290/.339/.479 slash line where his batting average, slugging percentage and OPS leads all National League rookies.

Now, after entering the season as an afterthought in the pantheon of who is going to emerge as a cornerstone of this franchise, the rising star looks like he will be a potential face of Washington during his tenure.