-1745819772711.png){kind=logo}
NEW YORK – Daylen Lile continues to be away from the Nationals while dealing with an illness. The young outfielder will miss his third straight game and stay at the team hotel in New York after “throwing up a little bit and not feeling good” over the past couple of days, according to interim manager Miguel Cairo yesterday.
Cairo provided a non-update update on Lile before tonight’s second game at Yankee Stadium, saying the Nats want the rookie to feel 100 percent better before he returns to the field … and to the clubhouse as to not get anyone else on the team sick.
“He was feeling a little better. Still a little under the weather,” Cairo said during his pregame media session. “We just want to give him one more day. Until he feels that he can do something, we're (not) going to bring him over here. We didn't want to get the rest of the team sick. But hopefully he's better and he'll come back tomorrow.”
That leaves the Nationals short-handed once again in The Bronx with the other four young outfielders available and in the starting lineup tonight against reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil.
James Wood remains in left field, Jacob Young is in center and Robert Hassell III is in right, while Dylan Crews serves as the designated hitter for just the second time in his young career.
“I just want to make sure they all get a chance,” Cairo said of his outfield rotation. “Hassell gets a chance to play. Woody gets to play. And I want him to get at-bats, too. So it's not like a day off, a real day off. It's just that (Crews) spent, like, two and a half months without playing. And sometimes getting him off his feet in the outfield and just getting a little rest, but at-bats at the same time. I want him to finish the season strong and he needs to get more at-bats.”
Since Crews returned from the injured list after recovering from his left oblique strain, Cairo has had to shuffle five young outfielders in three outfield spots and the DH role. Tonight marks just the second time Crews will be the designated hitter, with the interim skipper trying to give the former No. 2 overall pick a little breather while he still gets at-bats.
Here’s how the playing time has been split between the five in the 12 games (including tonight) since Crews was activated off the IL on Aug. 14:
* Crews: 12 starts, 10 in right field, two as DH
* Wood: 11 starts, seven in left field, four as DH
* Lile: eight starts, four in left field, one in right field, three as DH
* Hassell: eight starts, five in center field, one in left field, one in right field, one as DH
* Young: seven starts, all seven in center field
“I'm going with matchups,” Cairo said. “I want to make sure Hassell's in there, too, against righties. And Jacob is starting to swing the bat really good. But they know we got a rotation going on, and I want to make sure they all play.”
