-1745819772711.png){kind=logo}
MINNEAPOLIS – Dylan Crews is ready to begin his long-awaited rehab assignment.
Crews, who has missed the last two months with a strained left oblique muscle, will join Triple-A Rochester to begin playing games Tuesday, the final step before his eventual return to the Nationals’ active roster. The Red Wings play on the road this week in Charlotte.
The club has taken a cautious approach with the 23-year-old outfielder, bringing him along slowly and making sure he crossed off every item on his checklist before clearing him to play in games. This last week offered him his first chance to face live pitching in the cage to go along with the regular rounds of batting practice, defensive drills and baserunning exercises he had already been participating prior to that.
“I know it took maybe a little bit longer than some people would’ve wanted it to,” he said. “But we’re trying to make sure it’s all right, and that way we don’t have to restart and have to do this whole thing all over again.”
Crews initially hurt himself on a checked swing May 20, landing on the 15-day injured list the following afternoon. He was transferred to the 60-day IL earlier this week, a procedural move needed to open a spot on the 40-man roster for left-hander Konnor Pilkington. The Nats will need to clear another 40-man spot before Crews can be activated.
The rehab assignment will begin at the 10-week mark for Crews, which actually mirrors the same timeline as minor league first baseman Andrés Chaparro’s rehab from the oblique strain he suffered during spring training.
It’s unclear how long the rehab assignment will last, but even if fully healthy now Crews still needs to get a significant number of at-bats and innings in the field after missing so much time.
“Obviously, I want results,” he said. “But at the same time, you’ve got to remember I haven’t played in however long it was, a couple months or so. I’m not too worried about results-wise right now. These are free at-bats, in my mind. Go out there and treat it almost like spring training.”
Crews was just starting to find a rhythm at the plate prior to suffering the injury, going 5-for-14 with two homers and five RBIs to raise his batting average to .196 and his OPS to .620.
Frustrating as the process was for Crews, who had never spent any considerable time on the IL in his baseball career, the 2023 first-round pick believes he gained some valuable knowledge along the way that might not have been possible had he been playing all this time.
“I’ve never really been on this side of baseball before,” he said. “I’ve never sat out this long. You see things completely different when you’re on the bench. At the beginning of this whole process, I was saying that I was going to be locked in every pitch, and I tried to do that. I learned a lot on that side of baseball. The game completely slows down. You see why guys are good. You see how you can implement that into your game.”
* The Nationals recalled José Tena from Triple-A this morning, bringing the infielder back to take the roster spot that opened up with Saturday night’s trade of Amed Rosario to the Yankees.
Tena spent most of the season’s first two months as the Nats’ regular third baseman, batting .248 with a .325 on-base percentage and .690 OPS while showing improvement in the field at a position he only learned how to play last summer. He was optioned to Rochester six weeks ago when the organization promoted top prospect Brady House and played well there, batting .294 with a .390 on-base percentage and .870 OPS.
With House now entrenched at third base. Tena becomes a backup at three infield positions, though it’s unclear how much playing time he’ll get as a left-handed hitter, with both shortstop CJ Abrams and second baseman Luis García Jr. also batting from that side of the plate.
