Updates on Young, Crews, DeJong and Law

The Nationals returned home after a week on the West Coast with high spirits. They won four of their six games against the Mariners and Diamondbacks, and now they’re about to begin a highly anticipated series with the Cubs, who own one of the best records in baseball.

And as manager Davey Martinez provided some pre-series updates on a few of his injured players, the good news kept coming as it related to their Gold Glove-caliber center fielder.

Jacob Young, who has been on the 10-day injured list since May 23 (retroactive to May 20) with a left shoulder AC sprain, officially begins a minor league rehab assignment tonight with Double-A Harrisburg. The 25-year-old was able to swing his bat and hit over the weekend, crossing off the final mark on his checklist.

So what’s the plan for Young this week?

“To play,” Martinez said. “He's been doing everything, but he finally started hitting; he felt good. The last two days, he was really taking a lot of swings. We broke it down for him as if he was playing in a game. So now he's just going to go down there and get at-bats. We'll see how he does the next few days.”

Harrisburg is home all week against Reading (Phillies), with Young scheduled to lead off to get as many at-bats as possible and work up to nine innings. He will still play center field, but Martinez and the Nationals don’t feel he needs more work defensively.

“He felt good. Like I said, the last day, we emulated where he would swing, sit for about 15-20 minutes, and get back up and hit again as if he was going to play in the outfield,” Martinez said. “He said he had no issues. So that's great. So like I said, we'll get him down there and get him going, playing some games. The thing is to get him hopefully - I asked him to lead off so he gets four at-bats right away. I don't really think he needs to play the field that much. But I do want him to swing.

“He'll try to get three-to-four at-bats each day, if he can. But hopefully within three days, maybe get him to nine innings, and then we'll go from there.”

Unfortunately, Martinez did not have as encouraging news when it came to their other injured outfielder in Dylan Crews. The rookie has been sidelined since May 21 with a left oblique strain and has not been able to swing a bat nor resume any baseball activities.

“He's just building strength back up in his side,” the skipper said. “He hasn't been able to swing a bat yet, or nothing. So we're just kind of building up his strength. As soon as he's ready to start doing some baseball activity, he'll start doing it.”

On the other hand, Paul DeJong has taken a significant step during his long road back from a fractured nose that has kept him on the IL since April 16: Hitting in the cage.

“DeJong has been hitting,” Martinez said. “He's been doing everything. He's been getting better. We're going to get him in the cage and start getting him to hit off the velo machine. Hopefully this week, we'll get him started doing that, and then maybe try to get some batting practice in. The key is going to be getting him back in the box without any hesitation. But he says he feels fine. He's been moving around, he's doing some baseball stuff. He's got to wear the face mask on his helmet. But I saw him today, he looks good.”

DeJong was hit in the face by a fastball from Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller on April 15, requiring an immediate trip to the hospital and eventually surgery. The actual procedure had to wait while the swelling in his face went down, a time period during which he struggled to see.

He hasn’t been able to do anything baseball related over the last month and half, so finally taking swings in a batting cage – no matter how basic – is an important step.

“Just hitting in the cage,” Martinez said. “He's doing a lot of cage work. Soft tosses and things of that nature. He's still healing a little bit, but he feels good.

“It was weird. Remember, he had the issue with the eye for a little bit. But now he said he feels good. I watched him hit before we left and I said, 'Man, you're swinging the bat really well.' Which was awesome.”

Finally, Derek Law threw another bullpen session today as he works back from right forearm inflammation that has kept him from taking a mound since spring training. With two more scheduled this week, the right-hander is close to facing live hitters for the first time since camp.

“Derek's gonna throw a bullpen again today,” Martinez said. “He threw one a few days ago really well, 35 pitches. I think he's got this one, one more if everything goes well, and then we'll start getting him to face some live hitters. But he's throwing the ball well.”