Washington Nationals' Former Top Prospect Approaching Being Labeled a 'Bust'

The Washington Nationals entered 2025 with high expectations that their young core of talent would take another step forward in their development this year, leading them closer to returning to contention in the daunting National League East.

While some of that young core has certainly taken steps forward, even leaps and bounds, better and are becoming household names, it has not been the case for all of them.

While James Wood and MacKenzie Gore have been busy making names for themselves with their strong performances this year, former top prospect Dylan Crews has continued to struggle at the plate. As his sample size of Major League playing time grows larger, officially labeling the outfielder as a "bust" creeps closer.

Washington Nationals Outfielder Dylan Crews Approaching 'Bust' Status

Baseball is hard. One of the hardest things to do in all sports is to hit a fastball (in a somewhat unrelated note, Crews is better at hitting fastballs than other offerings). There have been many one-time top prospects who have made it to the Major League level, just to flounder and fail to find success.

After a strong collegiate career with the LSU Tigers, the Nationals selected Crews with the No. 2 pick of the 2023 MLB draft. Just over a year later, with only 607 professional plate appearances under his belt, the outfielder made his Major League debut.

The argument could certainly be made that the organization rushed him through the minors. Even with players drafted out of college, the general rule of thumb is to get them roughly 1,000 plate appearances before they see Major League pitching. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but Crews does not appear to be one to this point.

Since debuting, Crews has batted just .201/.265/.336 with eight home runs, 19 RBI and a 70 OPS+ across 283 plate appearances in 70 games. He has been nearly unplayable this year, batting just .186/.245/.321 with five home runs, 10 RBI and a 61 OPS+.

The biggest part of his struggles at the plate so far has come against offspeed and breaking pitches. As mentioned above, he has fared well against fastballs, but stuff and break plays up at the Major League level, and it has gotten to Crews in a big way. In 2024, he carried just a .182 average against offspeed offerings, with a .082 against breaking pitches. This year, it has been .100 against offspeed and .149 against breaking.

His saving grace has been his glove. Crews is a solid fielder who has already accrued two Outs Above Average this year, one in right field and one in center field, placing him in the 83rd percentile in MLB per Baseball Savant. He now just needs to find success at the plate to pair with his strong glove.

It is still far too early to officially label Crews as a bust. But with every passing day, and every game he plays in without finding that groove, the time comes closer and closer.