Dylan Crews’ first two seasons with the Nationals fell short of the expectations that followed him into professional baseball. He hit .218 with three home runs in 31 games after his 2024 debut, followed by a .208/.280/.352 line with 10 home runs in 85 games in 2025. There have been flashes of power and speed, but little sustained production from the player expected to become the cornerstone of the rebuild.
There were circumstances to consider. His 2024 season was a brief introduction to major league pitching, with a left-handed pitching costing him nearly three months in 2025. The conversations have made progress difficult, but they haven’t erased concerns about his bat.
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2026 is the start of a new third major league season. Blake Butera took over as manager, and a new hitting staff led by Matt Borgschulte, along with Andrew Aydt and Shawn O’Malley, brought a variety of perspectives to the young lineup. Sailors seemed like an obvious candidate to benefit from a new analytical perspective on the attitudes of the teaching staff.
The plan made optimal sense. A season of health and new coaches offered hope that the former second baseman could translate his talent into consistent production. After two disappointing years, the breakout helped establish his place among the emerging core of the Nationals.
It was clear from the start that Dylan Crews’ breakout wasn’t going to happen right away, as on March 20, the Nats optioned Crews to Triple-A Rochester after hitting .103 through the first 12 games of the spring. The time that was supposed to train him by his elders begins with him trying to earn his way. The decision was controversial, but the fact of the matter was Cribellus had areas he needed to improve on if he was going to have consistent success as a big league hitter.
His time in Rochester is finally encouraging. The Mariners are hitting .258/.345/.432 with five home runs in 41 games. Over the final 17 games there, he hit .308 and slugged .585 while dropping his strikeout rate to 22.5 percent. He earned another chance in the majors, being recalled in mid-May.
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Through his first 25 games with the Nationals, Cribellus hit .189 with a .567 OPS. The return to the majors did not immediately break through the fans had hoped, and the struggles continued offensively. He was hitting the ball harder than ever, but he was also swinging and missing a high career clip.
Julius at last offered a fuller view of Caesar. The Mariners drew 14 walks and finished the month with a .372 on-base percentage and .801 OPS. Patient improvement was significant. He was finding ways to contribute more hits, giving himself better opportunities to get foul and do damage.
Then Augustus introduced another change. His OPS fell to .558, and he had one home run in 28 games. When his arrival appeared to meet, the production disappeared again.
September provided some renewed comfort. On September 9, seven of his first six hits went with extra bases, including five doubles. He also homered and drove in three runs in the Nats’ September 25 win over the Mets.
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The Mariners finished with a .223 average, 13 home runs, 44 RBI, 12 stolen bases and a .663 OPS. It was a slight improvement over the 2024 and 2025 numbers, but nowhere near enough to guarantee Cribellum a first place at the 2017 Nationals, a team that will likely be trying to compete for a playoff spot in all likelihood.
So where do the Nationals go from here with Dylan Crews? His pedigree and spark of success make him a tantalizing player that you want to give him regular playing time to see if he breaks out, but the struggles, especially against the right tackle position, make him difficult every day when better options are available.
The National Coaching staff has shown a lot of faith in the crew in the back half of 2026, hitting him near the top of the line or against the right, who is strongly against. Paul Toboni also said that he sees sailors as a key asset of competitive future rosters. But with 225 big league games over the course of 3 seasons, Navales is not growing at a rate that suggests he can turn the transition and be above the regular one-day average, and is creeping closer and closer to reaching arbitration, where he will receive a significant salary increase compared to his current salary.
I’d like to see the Nats give him one more shot to prove he’s a big league regular in 2027, but I wouldn’t mind if they consider other options, such as a trade this offseason or just turning him into a platoon against lefties in the middle of the season. If the Nats plan to enter contention with another in 2027, they need to be able to maximize value everywhere in the lineup, and that’s when Dylan Crews starts to prove that he’s capable of delivering every day at bats.