There have always been three major items Dylan Crews needs to cross off before rejoining the Nationals’ roster. First, he needs to prove his oblique strain is fully healed. Then, he needs to prove his body is back in full baseball shape, capable of handling the rigors of the daily grind. Finally, he needs to prove he’s performing well again in minor league games, having success both at the plate and in the field.
At this point, Crews appears to be fully healthy. And he’s begun to perform on the field the last few days for Triple-A Rochester. What he hasn’t done yet is play a full nine innings, which now appears to be his final hurdle.
Crews is batting second and starting in right field tonight for the Red Wings, who are playing all week in Norfolk. It’s his first appearance in the field since Sunday, when he played six innings and took four plate appearances.
Crews served as Rochester’s designated hitter Tuesday, enjoying his best offensive performance to date: 3-for-4 with an RBI single. That came on the heels of a two-hit showing Sunday that included a double and a homer.
“The last two games, it’s been awesome,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “It’s good to hear he’s getting his timing, getting some hits, a homer. Now it’s just seeing how many at-bats he’s going to get in the rehab, and we’re going to see from there.”
All told, Crews has now played six games on his rehab assignment, going 6-for-17 with five RBIs, a walk and a hit-by-pitch. He also stole a base, testing out the oblique muscle as he ran and slid.
By all accounts, things are going well for the 23-year-old. Well enough for him to come off the 60-day IL in time for this weekend’s series in San Francisco? That might still be pushing it a bit.
“To me, I want him to have like a little spring training before he comes to the big leagues,” Cairo said. “And of course, it’s how he feels, too. I know health-wise, he’s good. We just want to make sure he gets his timing, he’s ready to face big league pitchers. You don’t want to be working on your timing in the big leagues, or you’re going to have a miserable month-and-a-half (to end the) season. I want to make sure he gets his timing. When he’s ready, we’re going to bring him up.”
* Paul DeJong is getting another start at second base tonight, replacing Luis Garcia Jr. in the lineup against Athletics left-hander Jeffrey Springs.
It’s DeJong’s second start at second base in the last week, and a sign of how things might play out the rest of the season. With Amed Rosario dealt to the Yankees prior to the deadline, and with rookie Brady House playing most days at third base, DeJong has to find his at-bats around the infield.
A shortstop throughout his career with the Cardinals, he switched to third base last season with the Royals and was supposed to man the hot corner for the Nationals this season until House was ready to be called up from Triple-A. After suffering a broken nose and other facial fractures on an errant fastball in mid-April, though, DeJong didn’t return until after House had debuted.
That now makes the 32-year-old Cairo’s top backup infielder, a right-handed bat who can give Garcia and shortstop CJ Abrams a breather when the Nationals face certain lefties. Tonight marks his 24th career appearance at second base, but the first 20 of those came as a rookie in 2017.
“He’s a professional defender,” Cairo said. “He knows how to play shortstop, third base, second base. I already talked to him to get some ground balls, in an emergency, to go to first base. As long as I can get him in there, he’s a proven big leaguer. Last year, he hit (24) homers in the big leagues. It was bad that he got hit in the face and lost that amount of time. But he’s a true professional that you want to have, and you want to give a chance to get some at-bats and keep a balanced lineup sometimes against lefties.”