The Washington Nationals have unfortunately come crashing back down to earth after getting off to a hot start to their 2026 season. Following an early series victory over the Chicago Cubs to begin the year, the Nationals now sit at 3-6, and are back to their familiar spot of last place in the NL East.
While their play has fallen off a cliff, it would be hard for the blame to be placed on the lineup as a whole. In fact, the Nationals' lineup has been one of the better ones in all of baseball, as they have gotten a lot of contributions from up and down the 26-man roster.
The big bats like CJ Abrams, Brady House, Daylen Lile, and Luis Garcia Jr. have all shown up at different times so far, and the rest of the linup has chipped in as well. Even guys like Jorbit Vivas and Nasim Nuñez have been productive as well, and while we wait for James Wood to fully tap into his pre-Home Run Derby form of last season, the lineup has more than held their own.
One guy that has been missing so far has been Dylan Crews, who was shockingly demoted before the Nationals broke camp out of Florida to come north for the season. His struggles since debuting in the majors have been well-documented, as the previous regime rushed him to the majors to try and save their jobs.
But since he was demoted, everyone has been wondering the same thing: when will he be back?
That answer is a bit more complicated as of now, since the Nationals' group of outfielders is currently performing above expectations, and specifically the guy who took his place on the Opening Day roster. Lile and Wood are lineup regulars and won't be going anywhere, but Jacob Young and Joey Wiemer seem as if they are not going to give up any meaningul reps anytime soon.
To his credit, Crews has slashed .250/.371/.429 to this point with an .800 OPS to go along with a homer and 6 RBIs so far through 35 plate appearances. Additionally, he has a 5:8 BB:K ratio so far, which needs to continue to rise if wants to get back to the majors. His swing-and-miss issues have been a big reason why he has struggled thus far, and hopefully he is able to get back to the guy we saw at LSU.
As of now, it does not appear as if the Nationals need to be in any rush to get Crews back to the majors, as the team's current outfielders have more than done the job well enough. Ideally, the team would like to see Crews actually dominate AAA to get his confidence back up, something he did not do before getting promoted initially.
Crews will certainly be back in the majors at some point this year, but until he shows that he has mastered AAA pitching, the Nationals need to be patient to let him work through his swing issues. Ideally, you'd love to see him have a nearly even BB:K ratio and have an OPS pushing .900 before getting called back up, but we will see how patient the organization will be. If I was to guess, we see Crews back during the summer after it gets past the point where he won't accrue another year of service time.
When do you think Dylan Crews will make his return to the Nationals' lineup? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.