Source: Nats planning to activate Crews on Thursday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Nationals are planning to activate Dylan Crews off the 60-day injured list Thursday for the start of their upcoming homestand, a source familiar with the club’s plan confirmed.

Crews, who has been out since May 20 with a strained left oblique muscle, has been on an extended rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester. He’s playing his 13th game today for the Red Wings, batting second and serving as designated hitter. Barring any setbacks, he’ll rejoin the Nats in D.C. and come off the IL for Thursday’s game against the Phillies.

It’s been a long road back for Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, who struggled through the season’s first month-plus, batting .196 with seven homers, 15 RBIs and a .620 OPS in 45 games. He was just starting to get hot at the plate, though, before he hurt himself on a check-swing, homering in each of his last two games.

The Nationals chose to be extremely cautious with Crews’ recovery process, bringing him along slowly after he was cleared to resume baseball activities last month. He began his rehab assignment with Rochester on July 29, and over the course of more than two weeks he built up to playing nine innings in right field on back-to-back days.

Entering this afternoon’s game against Syracuse, Crews was 10-for-39 with one double, two homers and seven RBIs in 12 games. Physically, he has passed every test; the Nats simply wanted to give him time to get at-bats and get comfortable playing again, treating the rehab assignment like it was spring training.

One way or another, the club was going to have to make a decision soon. Position players are limited to 20 days on a rehab assignment, so Crews couldn’t have stayed in the minors beyond this weekend without being activated off the IL and then optioned to Triple-A.

The Nationals now must decide how to handle an already-crowded outfield with Crews’ return. With James Wood entrenched in left field, interim manager Miguel Cairo has been trying to split playing time between Jacob Young, Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III in center and right fields. Crews now joins that mix.

The Nats could send any of the three other young outfielders down to create roster space. They also could option infielder José Tena, who has started only two games and appeared in two others over the last two weeks. That would still leave Cairo to juggle five outfielders among three positions, unless he’s willing to also use the DH position to keep another one of them in lineup at the expense of either Josh Bell or Nathaniel Lowe.

News of the Nationals' plan to activate Crews was first reported by Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan.