Watch: Dylan Crews has breakout performance vs. Rockies

Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews (3) teammates after a home run during the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Watch: Nationals' Dylan Crews has breakout performance vs. Rockies

By Eric Smithling | Last updated Apr 19, 2025 8:19 PM ET

Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews had his breakout MLB game against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday.

Crews, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft (behind college teammate and Pirates ace Paul Skenes), shook off a rough start to his major league career with his first career two-home run game in a 12-11 win.

The former LSU Tiger hit a two-run home run in the top of the second inning off of starting pitcher Chase Dollander, giving the Nats a 2-0 lead.

Dylan Crews homers (1) on a fly ball to right center field. Luis García Jr. scores. WSH vs. COL at Coors Field

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— MLB Home Runs (@mlbhomeruns.bsky.social) April 19, 2025 at 3:38 PM

Per Baseball Savant, the home run had an exit velocity of 102.5 mph — Crews' seventh-hardest hit this season — and would have been a home run at 28 other ballparks, with San Francisco's Oracle Park the only one it wouldn't have crossed the outfield wall.

Crews hit his second two-run home run off of Dollander in the fifth, blasting a 96 mph four-seam fastball 428 feet to right centerfield to put Washington up seven, 9-2. The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 108.4 mph, his second-hardest hit in 2025.

Dylan Crews' second two-run home run (2) Dylan Crews connects for his second two-run home run of the game, extending the Nationals' lead to 9-2 in the 5th inning

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— MLB Home Runs (@mlbhomeruns.bsky.social) April 19, 2025 at 4:39 PM

Crews added a double in the seventh for the second three-hit game of his young career and first this season. He made his MLB debut on Aug. 26, 2024, and was shaky in his first 47 games.

Entering Saturday, Crews posted a career .193 batting average, including .140 in 57 at-bats this season.

His strong day at the plate may have been a byproduct of facing the Rockies' league-worst pitching staff, but it was still a step in the right direction.

The Nationals (8-12) aren't expected to contend for a playoff spot this season. Sporting the league's worst relief staff, Washington's problems run deeper than their young outfielder's early-career slump. But the franchise's future would look brighter if Crews' breakout ended up being his breakthrough.

Eric Smithling

Eric Smithling is a writer based in New Orleans, LA, whose byline also appears on Athlon Sports. He has been with Yardbarker since September 2022, primarily covering the NFL and college football, but also the NBA, WNBA, men’s and women’s college basketball, NHL, tennis and golf. He holds a film studies degree from the University of New Orleans

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