Every top prospect develops at their own rate.<\/p>\n
So no matter what happens with Dylan Crews in the days, weeks and months ahead, it’s not to say anything is doomed for the Washington Nationals<\/a>‘ former No. 2 overall pick.<\/p>\n But the outfielder could certainly put some minds at ease with a strong spring.<\/p>\n He has some of the most impressive physical tools in baseball. Crews can do pretty much anything he wants on the field.<\/p>\n MORE:\u00a0How Jose Ramirez is on pace to become Cleveland’s Derek Jeter<\/a><\/p>\n It’ll just be a matter of doing the good things consistently enough. So far in his time in MLB, Crews has been unable to string together long stretches of good play.<\/p>\n Making matters tougher, Crews isn’t even guaranteed full-time status to begin the 2026 season. Without that, it’ll be extra tough to prove himself.<\/p>\n So this spring is critical, even if there will still be more chances to come down the road.<\/p>\n “There\u2019s a bit of an outfield logjam here — the Nats have five outfielders who will be younger than 26 years old on Opening Day — and Crews has a career 79 OPS+ in parts of two Major League seasons,” wrote MLB.com’s Jared Greenspan<\/a> in a new article on Saturday. “His third big league Spring Training is a critical one. He could still be one of the best young players in baseball, and a strong spring would help his case.”<\/p>\n