Dylan Crews' fast rise gives Rochester Red Wings top two Nationals' prospects

The timing worked out pretty nicely for outfielder Dylan Crews, the No. 2 prospect of the Washington Nationals who made his Triple-A home debut Tuesday night at Innovative Field for the Rochester Red Wings.

With Monday being an off day in the minors, Crews was able to kick back and watch the final game of the Men’s College World Series on ESPN, and throughout Tennessee’s defeat of Texas A&M, Crews couldn’t help but flash back one year ago to the day when he and his LSU teammates dog-piled on the pitchers’ mound in Omaha.

“It was a really good game over there. Made me reminisce about some things that we did there so it was cool, it was good to watch,” Crews said following batting practice prior to the Red Wings’ series-opener against the Indianapolis Indians.

“When Tennessee was getting down to the last out it started to come back to me how that moment felt for us, like, ‘Man, we’re about to really do this right now.’ So yeah, it’s an unbelievable feeling and hats off to Tennessee for pulling that out.”

Last year, Crews teamed with star pitcher Paul Skenes to lift LSU to its seventh championship but first since 2009. And if that wasn’t exciting enough, a month later, Skenes (Pirates) and Crews (Nationals) became the first college teammates to be picked 1-2 in the history of the Amateur Draft which dates to 1965.

If Skenes hadn’t already made the leap to the major leagues with Pittsburgh in May, they would have been playing against each other this week in Rochester as Indianapolis is the Pirates, Triple-A affiliate.

Skenes is already on a superstar track. His debut in early May was arguably the most-anticipated for a pitcher since at least back to 2010 when Stephen Strasburg debuted for the Nationals. And Skenes has not disappointed as he has made eight starts for the Pirates and is 4-0 with a 2.16 ERA, a 0.993 WHIP and is averaging 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings.

Not that Crews is surprised. He saw Skenes’ dominant ability up close and personal last year.

“I knew Paul (through the USA baseball program) the previous two years before he came to school and facing him,” Crews said. “Unbelievable talent, and when he was going through the transfer portal stuff, I wasn’t sure if we were gonna get him or not but we ended up getting him and it was awesome. It was a great year. He’s an unbelievable leader coming from Air Force and his work ethic is unbeatable. I took notes of that and yeah, it was awesome to share the field with him every day and pick his brain on some things.”

Skenes may have beaten Crews to the big leagues, but it seems pretty clear that Crews won’t be far behind. After being drafted last July, Crews shot through three levels of the Nationals’ system and hit .292/.377/.467 with an OPS of .845 in 35 games.

This year he started at Double-A Harrisburg and in 51 games before his promotion last week to Rochester, Crews slashed .274/.343/.446 with an OPS of .789, accruing five homers, 11 doubles, three triples and 38 RBI. That was more than enough to warrant advancement.

“It’s an exciting time for our organization, it’s fun to watch him play,” said Red Wings hitting coach Brian Daubach. “I think he came in against Syracuse who’s been a hot team and picked up right where he left off in Double-A which is exciting. Let him get some reps and get his feet underneath him here a little bit and he’ll learn as he goes. He just needs some game experience.”

Crews played all six games last week at Syracuse, thus becoming the highest drafted position player selected by a Rochester parent club to debut for the Red Wings before the parent club in the history of the draft. He went 0-for-5 in his debut, but then had at least one hit in each of the final five games in the series.

His first Triple-A knock was a solo homer off Mike Vasil last Wednesday, and he finished the series 7-for-29 (.241) with two homers and four RBI.

“Based off the one week I’ve been here, pitchers know how to keep it out of the middle,” Crews said. “They’ve got all their pitches and they’re gonna live around the outside of the strike zone and miss very rarely down the middle. So you gotta learn that as a hitter and adjust to it and see how they’re pitching you every day. That’s the beauty of this game. It’s a game of adjustments and gets played every day.”

Daubach said one thing he has worked on with Crews is to eliminate a slight hip movement at the plate, but otherwise, the 22-year-old’s hitting profile looks terrific.

“He has plus power for one, and he runs really well,” Daubach said. “I think his swing plane is as good as it gets. He’s done a good job this year in Double-A working on his lower half. We tried to stop (the hip movement) and it’s really improved and it should help his pitch recognition and help him control the zone.”

The fact that both Crews and James Wood (the Nationals’ No. 1 prospect) are here in Rochester brings back good memories for Daubach and manager Matt LeCroy.

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They were with the organization more than a decade ago when the top Nationals’ top prospects were Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon. It’s way too early to be projecting that type of greatness for Crews and Wood, but it’s certainly possible that they could be among the future faces of Washington’s lineup.

“You kind of get that feeling again,” Daubach said. “The big league team’s competing very well, they’re close to .500 and competing for a (playoff) spot and we’re trying to get these guys ready to help that club whether it’s this year or next year. Both great kids.”

Crews has set his standards about as high as they can be. His favorite player is Angels superstar Mike Trout.

“Since he’s been playing, since I’ve been playing, that’s the guy that I look up to,” Crews said. “Just how he handles himself on and off the field and it doesn’t matter what year he’s in now, he’s always running out the baseball and making plays in the outfield. So yeah, just try to be like him every day.”

If he can even come close, imagine what that would mean for the Red Wings in the short term, and the Nationals’ down the road.

“I saw him all spring training at big league camp,” LeCroy said. “He does everything good. That’s why he was drafted second overall. His skill level is really high, but the way he plays the game, base running is really good, defense is really good. He’s the total package.”

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out every other Friday during the offseason, please follow this link:https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast