Star center fielder Dylan Crews got his first taste of professional baseball over the weekend in Fredericksburg, as the second overall pick in last month’s MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals made his minor-league debut on Saturday night with the FredNats.
After going 0-for-5 on Saturday against Salem, the 6-foot, 205-pound native of Longwood, Fla., stepped into the batter’s box Sunday afternoon and made the most of his initial at-bat. Crews worked the count full against Red Sox starter Noah Dean before blasting his first home run as a pro over the “FXBG” sign in left-center field at Virginia Credit Union Stadium.
“Yeah, it felt good,” said Crews. “I was just trying to get something in my zone really, and I was able to do that. So I saw the curveball up and just got to it, really wasn’t trying to do anything special with it, and I was able to get good barrel on it and hit it out for my first home run, so it felt good. Just trying to get better every day, it’s a work in progress.”
His blast traveled an estimated 416 feet with an exit velocity of 105 mph, and it’s one he’ll never forget.
“It’s in my locker right now,” Crews said of the ball. “So I’m gonna save it, probably put in the case and hang it up on the wall somewhere.”
That wasn’t the only meaningful long ball for Crews in Sunday’s win, however. His former LSU teammate and Nats sixth-round pick, second baseman Gavin Dugas, also recorded his first pro dinger in the fifth inning.
“Me and him, our first professional home runs together on the same day — you can’t draw that up any more perfectly, so I’m happy for him,” said Crews. “He deserves everything, he’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen.”
Crews, the reigning College World Series champion and Golden Spikes Award winner who signed for $9 million last month, reached base on a fielder’s choice in the second inning Sunday, then recorded his first stolen base and advanced to third on a Salem throwing error, but the Freddies couldn’t bring him around to score.
Later, Crews struck out swinging to end the fourth, flied out to right to end the sixth and lined out to second to end the eighth, finishing 1-for-5 on the day and 1-for-10 for the weekend, but as he admitted, he’s really just getting his feet wet.
“I felt slow and controlled today which was good, so I was seeing the ball pretty well,” he said, “but yeah, it’s a work in progress. It felt good today, just trying to get one-percent better every day.”
Crews had been on the radar of Nats GM Mike Rizzo for quite some time, and when he was still on the board when it came time for Washington to make their draft pick, it was a no-brainer to select him.
“He’s always been a guy that we’ve watched since he was in high school,” Rizzo said after drafting Crews. “We have a really good history with him. He’s been a terrific, consistent player throughout his career, and he’s the type of guy that we want here in Washington.
“He’s a terrific person, he’s got great character, he’s very competitive, he’s a winner and he’s got a great skill set, and I think he’s a guy that’s going to fit right in here and be one of the leaders.”
On Saturday, the Red Sox spoiled Crews’ Fredericksburg debut with a wild, 11-7 victory in extra innings in front of 5,600 fans — a stadium record. It was Salem’s first victory of the week after dropping the first four.
Crews went 0-for-5 with a strikeout, a flyout, a lineout and a pair of groundouts in Saturday’s loss. He didn’t see much action defensively either on “Superman Night,” as the ball just didn’t find its way to him in center.
In his fourth at-bat, Crews stepped to the plate with two on and nobody out and smoked a 1-0 Cody Scroggins delivery down the line, but right into the glove of Salem first baseman Albert Feliz.
Crews is pretty familiar with several of his new Fredericksburg teammates, particularly Dugas and second-round pick Yohandy Morales, a third baseman who played his college ball at Miami.
“We all know each other. We’ve known each other for years, honestly,” Crews admitted. “We’ve just been playing with each other throughout high school and in college, and getting to play with each other, nothing changes really. We just kind of go out there and play the game we’ve always been playing, but with these guys that we’ve known for all these years. So it’s good, we’ve adjusted pretty easily to it.”
Crews and Morales played on the same travel-ball team in their high-school days, and both are excited to be back in the same dugout.
“I’ve grown up playing with him on the same team, and against him, so I’ve known Dylan for a while…,” said Morales, who went 7-for-22 (.318) with 3 doubles, a triple and 6 RBI in his first week as a pro. “I feel like the Nats got two of the best hitters in the class.”
In his three seasons at LSU, Crews hit at a .380 clip — including a batting average of .426 last season as a junior — with 286 career hits, 58 homers and 184 RBI.
Crews’ LSU teammate, star pitcher Paul Skenes, was taken first in the draft by Pittsburgh. Crews said he’s still keeping in touch with Skenes and the rest of his Tiger teammates nearly every day. While he may not wish Skenes well in a future Pirates-Nats matchup down the road, Crews will always be pulling for Skenes and his other former LSU brothers.
“Yeah, it’s a little different when you’re playing against them,” Crews said with a smile, “but still though, I wish them nothing but the best.”
Already packed with loads of potential, Crews could very well be a perennial All-Star some day, but right now he’s just trying to take everything as it comes, one day, one inning, one at-bat at a time. He believes his three years of going against the outstanding pitching in the Southeastern Conference prepared him as well as possible for his leap into the pros.
“Yeah, I’d say it’s really helped me out a lot,” said Crews. “I really don’t see anything different from SEC to now, honestly. But yeah, it’s just a little bit of an adjustment with the wood bats and getting acclimated to everything around here, so that’s just it. Like I said, I’m just trying to get better every day and trying to help the guys win and put us in a playoff spot.”
The FredNats (47-51; 17-18 second half) are now in fourth place in the Carolina League’s North Division standings, and are only 5.5 games back of the first-place Mudcats with five weeks left in the regular season.
The Freddies have been on a roll, winning seven of their last eight games, and will spend this week in Lynchburg for a six-game set against the Hillcats before returning home next week to host Augusta (Aug. 15-20). The team will then play its final home series of the regular season against Lynchburg from Aug. 29 to Sept. 3.
For Crews, it’s all about getting himself a little more comfortable and acquainted with the pitching at the Single-A level.
“I’d say it’s very similar [to the SEC],” he said. “I mean, obviously I think guys here can land their breaking stuff more often, and that’s a little bit of an adjustment I need to to improve on. So yeah, I’d say it’s very similar, just they can land stuff multiple times.”
Along with Crews, Morales and Dugas, the FredNats’ current roster also features fourth-round outfielder Andrew Pinckney (Alabama) — who was named Carolina League Player of the Week after going 10-for-20 with his first career homer on Sunday, three doubles and 6 RBI — and fifth-round shortstop Marcus Brown (Oklahoma State). With several other star prospects in the Nats’ farm system, Crews knows that he’s already part of something that could be really special.
“We’ve hit it off pretty easily and there’s no doubt we’ve got a lot of talent in this organization,” said Crews. “I’ve been here for two days and I can already see some sparks in the guys and it’s good. They’re very gritty, just great ball players honestly, and so I could see a bright future for us.”
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