Dylan Crews Keeps Hitting, But Will Power Come With It?

Image credit: Dylan Crews (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)

Dylan Crews went 1-for-2 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI on Tuesday.  It was yet another solid day in a very successful spring training for the 23-year-old Nationals outfielder.

Coming off of a .218/.288/.353 MLB debut late last season, Crews needed to show this spring that he’s comfortable stepping into an everyday role. With just 10 days until the Nationals break camp, he’s seemingly passed that test. Crews has 10 hits in 10 games, hitting .357/.455/.429. as he heads into what’s expected to be his first full season in the major leagues. He’s walked almost as many times (five) as he’s struck out (six).

There’s very little to complain about Crews’ spring. He’s been one of the most productive hitters in the Nationals lineup, even if his solid production has been a bit overshadowed by Robert Hassell’s even-better performance.

But Crews’ solid spring has not answered everything. There were some questions raised last year as to how much impact he will hit with, especially early in his MLB career.

That question remains. So far in March, Crews continues to look like a solid table-setter, but he is not stinging the ball.

Crews has one extra-base hit this spring—a triple to left field against the Mets two and a half weeks ago. Statcast does not have coverage of all of the Nationals games, but of the games with Statcast data, Crews’ hardest-hit fly ball is 90.9 mph. That ranks 53rd among all tracked line drives/fly balls hit by Washington hitters this spring.

Of his 10 hits this spring, four are line drives, two are bloopers and four came on ground balls.

That’s not all bad. The Nationals have James Wood, Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Bell to provide power. If Crews can hit for average, get on base and occasionally pull a double or home run, he could be a productive regular at the top of the order.

So far, Crews is showing the ability to use all fields. He has three hits to center field, three to left, three to right and one on a comebacker to the pitcher. But if you were hoping to see him take a step forward as a power hitter, we haven’t seen it yet this spring.