Nationals Option Top Prospect Dylan Crews to Triple-A Rochester

Dylan Crews arrived in West Palm Beach as a near-lock for Washington's Opening Day outfield. He left headed to Rochester.

The Washington Nationals optioned Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, to Triple-A on Friday, less than a week before the start of the 2026 season. The 24-year-old slashed .103/.206/.103 with a .309 OPS across his first 12 Grapefruit League games, going 3-for-29 with zero home runs and 11 strikeouts. Even by spring training standards, the numbers were difficult to overlook.

"Ultimately, it's always a hard decision, these types of moves this late in spring," manager Blake Butera said. "One thing that we made sure Dylan was aware of is, we absolutely believe in Dylan. Our thoughts on Dylan as a person, as a player, have only changed in a positive direction. We just think the best thing for Dylan and the organization right now is at least for him to start in Triple-A."

The demotion was not entirely without context. Crews batted .218 in his 2024 debut and .208 last season, compiling a .634 OPS across 116 major-league games while posting 13 home runs, 35 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. The stolen-base total reflects the athleticism and instincts that made him a consensus top-10 prospect in the game heading into 2024. But the bat has lagged, and a spring that produced a .309 OPS finally forced the organization's hand.

Butera pointed to some encouraging signs even within the rough camp numbers. He specifically highlighted Crews' first at-bat against the Cardinals, in which Crews got ahead 2-0 and drew a five-pitch walk, as evidence that the approach adjustments were beginning to register. The problem was consistency: Crews had spent too much of the spring trailing in counts, and isolated moments of good process weren't enough to offset 29 plate appearances of results.

The Nationals' new front office has made clear it prefers not to rush young players, and sending Crews to Rochester fits that framework. Washington's hitting group will lay out a specific set of work items before breaking camp, and big-league staff members will be in contact with Crews essentially every day while he is in Triple-A. Butera confirmed the organization will monitor his progress against concrete benchmarks.

"Credit to Dylan, he took it like a pro. He was awesome, awesome," Butera said. "These are never easy [conversations], and he looked us in the eye the entire time, understood, said he was going to do everything he needed to do in Triple-A. His response was like, I understand this is tough but I'm going to go do my thing and I'm going to show you guys when I'm ready to go."

With Crews headed north to Rochester, the Nationals' Opening Day outfield will likely consist of James Wood, Jacob Young and Daylen Lile, with Joey Wiemer and Christian Franklin available as bench options. Crews is not alone among high-profile departures from camp: catcher Harry Ford was demoted earlier in the week, Robert Hassell III, another former first-round pick, was optioned to the minors, and right-hander Jackson Rutledge, once ranked as high as No. 11 in the organization's prospect rankings, was also sent down.

Butera said the Nationals would not finalize the roster until the last minute, leaving 13 position players competing for 13 spots after Crews' removal. But the outfield picture is effectively set.

"When we see ourselves making a playoff push, either this year, next year, whenever it might be, we envision him running in from the outfield to that dog pile," Butera said. "He's going to be a big part of that."

Crews was drafted one slot behind his LSU teammate Paul Skenes in 2023 and shot through Washington's system to reach the majors by August of 2024, barely a year after being selected. The path back will run through Rochester first.