The time has come.
After much anticipation for the inevitable Dylan Crews debut after being selected second overall by the Nationals in last year's MLB Draft, the former LSU Standout and Golden Spikes Award winner will be making his Major League debut on Monday night against former National superstar Juan Soto and the New York Yankees.
Sources: Nationals top prospect Dylan Crews is expected to be called up to make his MLB debut in DC on Monday night against the Yankees.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) August 23, 2024
Crews and Wood, together at Nationals Park for the first time, opposing Juan Soto and the Yankees.
The Nationals took their time with Dylan Crews, just like they did with James Wood before the club called him up as well. After Crews struggled a bit initially in his AAA debut, Crews has enjoyed a strong month of August in Rochester, hitting .306 with a .908 OPS and 4 home runs in 17 games. Now with the Major League club undergoing major roster changes, Crews has an opportunity to run with as an everyday Major League starter.
It is a very high profile debut as well, as the Yankees are a high ticket opponent as is, not to mention the storyline added in with former National Juan Soto once again returning to the Nation's Capital, this time as a member of the Bronx Bombers. Despite the game being on a Monday night (the same day of the week James Wood debuted), it should be a packed house at Nationals Park to see Crews, Soto and the teams clash with some of the best young stars in the game.
We also identified this Monday against the Yankees as a potential debut day for Crews, though we still felt a bit of uncertainty around the idea of Crews debuting at all this season since we did not know exactly what the Nationals were waiting for with Crews. How things can change in a week!
With Monday as a start date for Crews, he will get approximately 30 games under his belt by the end of the season with the Nationals likely to miss the postseason. That is a good amount of experience to give Crews heading into the offseason, and for the Nationals to get an idea of how Crews will acclimate to the Major Leagues as they prepare for their Free Agency plan where we hope they will be active in supplementing the Major League roster with over $40M coming off the books on what was already a fairly inexpensive roster.
Dylan Crews and James Wood, paired with young stars like CJ Abrams, are really ushering in a new era of Nationals baseball, creating a buzz amongst the fanbase that has been noticeably absent for quite some time.