Dylan Crews crushes opposite-field homer off Trey Yesavage in Triple-A win

Dylan Crews did more than lift Rochester past Buffalo 6-3. He delivered the kind of opposite-field home run that matters most for a prospect trying to force his way back to Washington, a right-center blast off Trey Yesavage that showed real bat control, not just raw pull power.

MiLB and MLB video tracked the ball to right-center field, and that detail may carry more weight than the final score. Opposite-field power is a line that major-league hitters have to earn, because it usually means the barrel is staying through the zone long enough to punish pitches even when they are not leaked over the inner half. For a player like Crews, that is the separator between an encouraging Triple-A night and a meaningful developmental step.

Crews has been in Rochester since Washington optioned him there on March 20 after a difficult spring in West Palm Beach, where he hit .103/.206/.103 with a .309 OPS in 12 Grapefruit League games. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft entered 2026 still trying to build on a major-league debut that came on August 26, 2024, and every extra-base hit in Triple-A now feeds the same central question: how close is he to looking like a finished big-league bat?

This was his second Triple-A homer of the season. He also hit a solo shot on April 3, his first home run of 2026, giving Rochester another sign that the power is beginning to show up with more consistency. The opposite-field nature of Tuesday’s homer matters because it suggests pitchers may not have an easy route to attacking him anymore. If they stay away, he can drive the ball the other way. If they come in, his compact swing can still punish them.

Yesavage was part of the other half of the matchup. The 22-year-old Toronto Blue Jays pitching prospect was making his 2026 Buffalo Bisons debut on a rehab assignment while working back from a right shoulder impingement, and Buffalo’s game notes said he was returning from that injury. He struck out five, but Rochester found enough offense to back Crews and take the win.

For Washington, that is the bigger storyline than one line on a box score. Crews’ opposite-field homer was a reminder that his path back to the Nationals may hinge less on statistics alone and more on whether his approach now looks sturdy enough to survive major-league pitching.