Dylan Crews’ return tonight from the 60-day injured list is a major development for the Nationals, and his performance over the next six weeks is one of the team’s most important storylines down the stretch of what has been an incredibly depressing season.
But in some ways, there’s just as much intrigue today to the flip side of Crews’ return. Somebody has to be dropped from the Nats’ active roster, and that transaction may say a lot about the performance and future expectations for a bunch of players who will be impacted by the decision.
We’ve known for several years now the Nationals eventually were going to confront a dilemma in their outfield, with more promising young prospects than available positions. They managed to hold off making any major decisions there due to Crews’ oblique injury, which wound up sidelining him nearly three months.
But the time has come to decide which three young outfielders are going to get the bulk of the playing time the rest of the season. Or, perhaps, which four young outfielders are going to split time among three positions. Or, perhaps, if the Nats are going to try to find a way to keep all five in the majors at the same time.
This much we know: James Wood is going to keep playing every day. Aside from an occasional rest day, the 22-year-old slugger is going to be in the lineup as much as possible, whether in left field or maybe as designated hitter sometimes.
And the assumption is that Crews is going to play, if not every day then close to every day, the rest of the way. The 23-year-old still only has 76 games of big league experience. And while his offensive performance to date (a .629 OPS across 305 plate appearances) has been uninspired, he remains a huge part of the Nationals’ long-term plan, one who is expected to continue to develop into an all-around star who contributes at the plate, in the field and on the bases.
What, then, becomes of Jacob Young, Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III?
Young has far and away the most major league experience of the trio, with 274 games and 934 plate appearances over the last three seasons. And he remains an elite defensive center fielder who should be a Gold Glove Award finalist again this year. But his already limited offensive game has diminished this season, with a .292 on-base percentage and .263 slugging percentage. He’s been successful on only 12-of-22 stolen base attempts.
There’s a case to be made to keep Young as the fourth outfielder, using him as an occasional starter against lefties, a late-inning defensive replacement and as a pinch-runner. There’s also a case to option the 26-year-old to Triple-A Rochester as the least productive hitter of anyone in the current outfield mix.
Lile already was sent down to Triple-A earlier this summer after a rough opening stint in D.C. But since returning in June, the 22-year-old has taken off. And after driving in the game-winning run Wednesday in Kansas City, he’s batting .339 with seven extra-base hits over his last 17 games. Interim manager Miguel Cairo gushed about Lile after the game, calling him the team’s most improved player.
The downside: Lile’s defense in right field has been surprisingly poor. Often struggling to corral balls in the corner, or to chase down shallow fly balls, he has minus-13 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-6 Outs Above Average.
Hassell hasn’t been given nearly as much opportunity to play as Lile, and he struggled in his first stint with a .497 OPS and a concerning 21-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But the outfielder, who turns 24 on Friday, has been much better in his second stint, batting .346 (9-for-26 with four doubles, a homer and five RBIs). And he looked perfectly comfortable in center field the last two days, robbing a home run at the wall and making a diving catch coming in on a sinking liner as well.
Is there room for both Lile and Hassell, who both bat left-handed? Or would the organization be better served sending one of them back down to Rochester to get more consistent playing time?
There is a scenario in which the Nationals could keep all five outfielders at the expense of Jose Tena, who has barely played (four games, eight plate appearances) since he was recalled 2 1/2 weeks ago after Amed Rosario was traded. Paul DeJong already backs up three infield positions. Tena really serves only as insurance in case something happens to another infielder.
But it’s already going to be a challenge for Cairo to find enough at-bats for four young outfielders. How would he do it for five of them?
After months of time pondering that very question, we’re finally going to get an answer later today.