No Crews in the lineup. Last night, Franny said we need to give Crews time before we really know where he is in this latest stint in the Majors. My question: how long should we wait? Finally, really happy JY is hitting the baseball with some regularity
I think he gets the whole season. Think about James Wood at the start of the season or for that matter, Ruiz for much of the season. The less pressure Crews is under the better.
I would be very surprised if Crews was not on the team, mostly as a starter for the entire season. The team has shown it can win with him in the game, and his hitting has not been awful. Anymore, he usually gets one hit a game, and has a home run on his resume.
Neither. All 4 will get ample PT, with one working as DH while the other 3 occupy the OF.
I think what's encouraging Nats brass is Crews' exit velo of late. When he puts the ball in play, he does so with greater authority than pretty much any time in his MLB career. That suggests he's far more confident in what he's seeing, which was his biggest challenge, in my view: pitch recognition. The fact his HR was on a slider is incredibly positive as the slider has been his greatest weakness. He's laying off bad pitches better and his modified stance is allowing him to get his hips through better. Hence the higher exit velo. Given his maturity, he'll be permitted, one suspects, to work through his remaining issues in DC, not Rochester. Not saying he's got it all figured out or that he's everything a #2 overall should be, but... progress is progress and his ceiling is high.
As for Lile and Young, both are solid starters right now and not going anywhere. Lile's defense seems... better... and Young's emerging power is a revelation. If Lile hits .270 with 20 HR and a ton of XBH, his defense is adequate. And if JY continues to play GG-caliber CF, him hitting .240 with, say, 15 HR is adequate to remain in the mix.
What will be interesting is if Crews can hit .250 with gap power and 15-ish HR, will he get CF while JY is flipped for pitching?
Crews always had great EVs. His problems were : 1) he was hitting too many groundballs and not enough line drives, 2) he was chasing too many pitches outside the zone and striking out too much,and 3) he couldn’t hit breaking balls.
He has a home run on his resume?? One home run? One home run in 33 PAs, and an OPS+ of 79 is not the stat line for a starting MLB outfielder. Yes it's early and small sample size yada yada yada, but Crews is going to have to really up his offensive game to be a starter on this team, especially now that it seems this is not just season 6 of The Rebuild. Hard to believe, but Jacob Young is having a better year at the plate (7 HRs? What?), and he's a top of the line center fielder.
Nope. But Crews is an OF and we have better hitting alternatives in the OF, not at 2B/backup SS. Or didn't you notice that they play different positions? As for Lilies, he's hitting better than Crews. Seriously dude, do better. There are limited positions in the starting lineup. It's not like I'm saying never play Crews, but until he starts hitting better than he has so far, he's not going to be an everyday player on this team. Kind of seems like Butera agrees, and he's a lot smarter and more experienced than you or me....
Not sure if you've noticed, but Butera started him all 8 games since he's been back (rested him today against a tough righty), games in which he's showed that he's made improvements since they sent him to AAA. He's not chasing bad pitches, he's making hard contact, and he's been on base in all 8 games. So yes, by playing him, Butera agrees, and is showing that the kid deserves a chance.
He’s had a hit in 7 of the 8 games he’s played, been on base in all 8, and is making good contact and better decisions. Batting average isn’t the whole story.
Right now, if Dylan remains who he is, then you have a gold-glove caliber outfielder, an elite baserunner, with decent bat-to-ball skills. A clone of Jake Young last year.
He needs to have some time working with the hitting coach in DC, give it time. He is a better batter than the .634 OPS would suggest.
Anything could happen, but I’d be surprised if Crews doesn’t eventually hit better than Young. It’s great to see JY and Ruiz turning their hitting around to a certain extent. But if they can do it with the help of the new coaching staff, Crews has a shot, too.
This is the response of the season! Put it on a t-shirt! Have Charlie, Dave, Franny or Dan say it in the air. Ask Butera and Toboni about it in a presser and see what they say! He’ll, put it on a Bobblehead!
I love the change from the previous boring regime.
Also... I've said for years that I look forward to a time when pitchers go 2-4 innings every few days, rather than having a bunch of guys we hope can do 1 inning, and 5 guys who we'd wish could do 7.
What they are doing with the roster they have is so smart.
If King keeps hitting like he is, and it translates into an OPS over 700 in the bigs, then he definitely needs to be in Washington. I love Nunez' glove and footspeed, but let's be realistic.
Also, he's a VASTLY better shortstop defensively than Abrams is, but they're playing him out of position so they can improve Abrams' resume. Which is just damned stupid. I hate it so much. Play your best team, and that's with Abrams at 2nd and Nunez at SS.
Anyway, if they keep it up for a couple weeks, i would put King at 2B, bench Nunez and send down Vivas. Also, put Morales at 3B, Mead at 1B, bench Garcia, and demote Chaparro.
That's adding 2 very good bats to your everyday lineup.
Reading Mark regularly is a great way to keep up with all things Nats. Notable this morning: MLB Central is catching on - this morning their lead story was on Blake Butera and the Nats “playing chess while the rest of baseball is playing checkers”. 👍
Every few weeks I bring up my pre-season musing on the Nats win total. I'd suggested 75, with the team going 24-36 through May. Well, with 4 games left, they're already at 29 wins, guaranteed a .500 month even if they go 0-4 these last 4 games, and they're on pace for 84 wins. I'd always expected them to trend up slightly through the season, ending with a winning month (the only one I imagined) in September. NOTE: one more win in May and it's a winning month!
Why would they trend higher? I imagined guys like Crews and Ford turning things around in Rochester and supplanting weaker performers in DC. Or guys like Cornelio, Perales, or Alvarez doing the same. Or guys like Herz, Gray, or Williams returning strong from injury.
What I did NOT imagine was the emergence of King, Morales, or Jackson Kent. Abimelic Ortiz has 7 HR in May so far. Or Ruiz turning things around both offensively and defensively. Or Mead's performance. Or JY hitting 7 bombs. Or Foster Griffin.
Imagine King replacing Nunez as the every day 2B while Nunez rightly returns to being a super sub. Ortiz and Morales replace Garcia and Chappy as the L/R 1B platoon. Ands despite recent upticks, someone like Kent or Cornelio or Alvarez takes the spot of a Mikolas or Irvin...
They play hard. They play smarter than they have in years. They're ok with part-time roles and sharing the spotlight. They have a few All Star caliber performers.
Could they be a .500 team? A WC contender? Common sense and recent history say no. But they have more talent and more depth than in recent memory and they seem to have bought in to the new regime's approach.
Really regretting now that I will be on an Alaska adventure for the next month and missing this exciting fun team. OK, regretting is too strong - we plan to have a wonderful time, and I still can follow what's happening through this journal. Thanks Mark for this!!
Why not us!
(Someone needs to put it on a t shirt!)
Could be a challenge for the Nats hot lineup against a pretty good Guards pitcher. Good to see Garcia hitting second in the lineup.
No Crews in the lineup. Last night, Franny said we need to give Crews time before we really know where he is in this latest stint in the Majors. My question: how long should we wait? Finally, really happy JY is hitting the baseball with some regularity
I'd say give Crews another 2-3 weeks, so we can see if he is making progress at the plate.
I think he gets the whole season. Think about James Wood at the start of the season or for that matter, Ruiz for much of the season. The less pressure Crews is under the better.
Didn’t he hit a homer the other day? I’d say that’s progress.
I would be very surprised if Crews was not on the team, mostly as a starter for the entire season. The team has shown it can win with him in the game, and his hitting has not been awful. Anymore, he usually gets one hit a game, and has a home run on his resume.
If Crews was a starter, who would you demote - Lile or Young?
Exactly.
Neither. All 4 will get ample PT, with one working as DH while the other 3 occupy the OF.
I think what's encouraging Nats brass is Crews' exit velo of late. When he puts the ball in play, he does so with greater authority than pretty much any time in his MLB career. That suggests he's far more confident in what he's seeing, which was his biggest challenge, in my view: pitch recognition. The fact his HR was on a slider is incredibly positive as the slider has been his greatest weakness. He's laying off bad pitches better and his modified stance is allowing him to get his hips through better. Hence the higher exit velo. Given his maturity, he'll be permitted, one suspects, to work through his remaining issues in DC, not Rochester. Not saying he's got it all figured out or that he's everything a #2 overall should be, but... progress is progress and his ceiling is high.
As for Lile and Young, both are solid starters right now and not going anywhere. Lile's defense seems... better... and Young's emerging power is a revelation. If Lile hits .270 with 20 HR and a ton of XBH, his defense is adequate. And if JY continues to play GG-caliber CF, him hitting .240 with, say, 15 HR is adequate to remain in the mix.
What will be interesting is if Crews can hit .250 with gap power and 15-ish HR, will he get CF while JY is flipped for pitching?
What if JY stays on track and hits 20 HR. Still think of him as trade bait?
Absolutely. But the asking price would go WAAAY up!! ;)
Then why not trade Crews?
Then why not trade Crews as it is unlikely he'll be a better CF?
No way! He is under team control through 2030!!
Crews always had great EVs. His problems were : 1) he was hitting too many groundballs and not enough line drives, 2) he was chasing too many pitches outside the zone and striking out too much,and 3) he couldn’t hit breaking balls.
Crews' great EVs were on fastballs. Now he's hitting breaking balls with authority as well. Maybe I wasn't clear on that.
NEITHER!!!
He has a home run on his resume?? One home run? One home run in 33 PAs, and an OPS+ of 79 is not the stat line for a starting MLB outfielder. Yes it's early and small sample size yada yada yada, but Crews is going to have to really up his offensive game to be a starter on this team, especially now that it seems this is not just season 6 of The Rebuild. Hard to believe, but Jacob Young is having a better year at the plate (7 HRs? What?), and he's a top of the line center fielder.
Nuñez has an OPS+ of 47 - are we benching him as well?
Lile is homering once every 34.85 PA - does he get benched?
Nope. But Crews is an OF and we have better hitting alternatives in the OF, not at 2B/backup SS. Or didn't you notice that they play different positions? As for Lilies, he's hitting better than Crews. Seriously dude, do better. There are limited positions in the starting lineup. It's not like I'm saying never play Crews, but until he starts hitting better than he has so far, he's not going to be an everyday player on this team. Kind of seems like Butera agrees, and he's a lot smarter and more experienced than you or me....
So you can be snarky, but I can't? Gotcha.
Not sure if you've noticed, but Butera started him all 8 games since he's been back (rested him today against a tough righty), games in which he's showed that he's made improvements since they sent him to AAA. He's not chasing bad pitches, he's making hard contact, and he's been on base in all 8 games. So yes, by playing him, Butera agrees, and is showing that the kid deserves a chance.
He’s had a hit in 7 of the 8 games he’s played, been on base in all 8, and is making good contact and better decisions. Batting average isn’t the whole story.
The rest of the season. He is making better swing decisions for the most part and his increased his launch angle.
Right now, if Dylan remains who he is, then you have a gold-glove caliber outfielder, an elite baserunner, with decent bat-to-ball skills. A clone of Jake Young last year.
He needs to have some time working with the hitting coach in DC, give it time. He is a better batter than the .634 OPS would suggest.
Anything could happen, but I’d be surprised if Crews doesn’t eventually hit better than Young. It’s great to see JY and Ruiz turning their hitting around to a certain extent. But if they can do it with the help of the new coaching staff, Crews has a shot, too.
It is far too early to speculate about Crews hitting better than Young; that is just wishful thinking at this point.
Thanks, Mark. Looking forward to your upcoming article.
Glad Mead is out there even against the righty!
"Opener" and "bulk reliever." Two terms that have become a regular part of the 2026 Nationals lexicon.
I mentioned this comment to my darling wife and she said “Sounds like you’re talking about laxatives” and now I can’t not think about that
Madison Avenue has done their job!
This is the response of the season! Put it on a t-shirt! Have Charlie, Dave, Franny or Dan say it in the air. Ask Butera and Toboni about it in a presser and see what they say! He’ll, put it on a Bobblehead!
I love the change from the previous boring regime.
Also... I've said for years that I look forward to a time when pitchers go 2-4 innings every few days, rather than having a bunch of guys we hope can do 1 inning, and 5 guys who we'd wish could do 7.
What they are doing with the roster they have is so smart.
Butera looks like a genius at this point. If he's not coach of the year, then there is something wrong with people voting.
Raise your hand if you thought that Mikolas with an opener would bring his ERA down to 3!?
Bullpen sponsored by Ex-lax.
Seaver King absolutely killing it at Rochester. Needs to be the every day second baseman soon for the Nats.
How long has he been up with Rochester?
I would say soon = after all star break but he’s absolutely raking for the Red Wings. Glad to see them primarily playing him at 2nd base now in AAA.
Sounds like a good plan to me:))
He was assigned there from Harrisburg on May 18
thanks
We have a really good problem here. Who do you pick? Seaver King and his amazing bat or the MLB leader in stolen bases (Nunez)?
If King keeps hitting like he is, and it translates into an OPS over 700 in the bigs, then he definitely needs to be in Washington. I love Nunez' glove and footspeed, but let's be realistic.
Also, he's a VASTLY better shortstop defensively than Abrams is, but they're playing him out of position so they can improve Abrams' resume. Which is just damned stupid. I hate it so much. Play your best team, and that's with Abrams at 2nd and Nunez at SS.
Anyway, if they keep it up for a couple weeks, i would put King at 2B, bench Nunez and send down Vivas. Also, put Morales at 3B, Mead at 1B, bench Garcia, and demote Chaparro.
That's adding 2 very good bats to your everyday lineup.
I love everything about this plan. Morales has been killing it at AAA. Why is he still there? He has nothing left to prove at AAA.
Curtis Mead, a former 100 prospect, rescued by the Nats org. First baseman of the future, why not?
Because of Ortiz, Morales, and Petry? But he's making a case to stick somewhere, for sure.
Not on the 2028 team.
Lol. The only guy I'm confident will be on the 2028 team is Wood!
Oh, definitely! But not Curtis Mead.
Brady House hit an HR at Rochester today. Harry Ford has a double so he may be turning things around.
He now has 2 HR as does Ortiz
Reading Mark regularly is a great way to keep up with all things Nats. Notable this morning: MLB Central is catching on - this morning their lead story was on Blake Butera and the Nats “playing chess while the rest of baseball is playing checkers”. 👍
Good one
Every few weeks I bring up my pre-season musing on the Nats win total. I'd suggested 75, with the team going 24-36 through May. Well, with 4 games left, they're already at 29 wins, guaranteed a .500 month even if they go 0-4 these last 4 games, and they're on pace for 84 wins. I'd always expected them to trend up slightly through the season, ending with a winning month (the only one I imagined) in September. NOTE: one more win in May and it's a winning month!
Why would they trend higher? I imagined guys like Crews and Ford turning things around in Rochester and supplanting weaker performers in DC. Or guys like Cornelio, Perales, or Alvarez doing the same. Or guys like Herz, Gray, or Williams returning strong from injury.
What I did NOT imagine was the emergence of King, Morales, or Jackson Kent. Abimelic Ortiz has 7 HR in May so far. Or Ruiz turning things around both offensively and defensively. Or Mead's performance. Or JY hitting 7 bombs. Or Foster Griffin.
Imagine King replacing Nunez as the every day 2B while Nunez rightly returns to being a super sub. Ortiz and Morales replace Garcia and Chappy as the L/R 1B platoon. Ands despite recent upticks, someone like Kent or Cornelio or Alvarez takes the spot of a Mikolas or Irvin...
They play hard. They play smarter than they have in years. They're ok with part-time roles and sharing the spotlight. They have a few All Star caliber performers.
Could they be a .500 team? A WC contender? Common sense and recent history say no. But they have more talent and more depth than in recent memory and they seem to have bought in to the new regime's approach.
Stranger things have happened.
A lot of times, winning begets winning.
Very true!
Love it! You’re getting me fired up. I believe! I believe!
Really regretting now that I will be on an Alaska adventure for the next month and missing this exciting fun team. OK, regretting is too strong - we plan to have a wonderful time, and I still can follow what's happening through this journal. Thanks Mark for this!!
Let's get the 🧹🧹🧹 guys! Being home a CURLY W THIS AFTERNOON!! GO NATS!!!
Can we expect Alvarez to back Mikolas today? Or are they hoping to have him cover Jake Irvin’s next turn?
Doubt it with everyone else rested and a day off tomorrow Let’s hope like isn’t needed today.
I'm hoping Alvarez gets to pitch in Irvin's spot in the rotation. The kid has earned it.
CJ Drilled!
Nice pickoff