Dylan Crews entered MLB as the No. 2 overall pick in an MLB draft that also included Wyatt Langford, Jacob Wilson, Bryce Eldridge, Kevin McGonigle and several other position players who are currently thriving, or at least treading water.<\/p>\n
Crews had been an outrageously productive collegiate hitter at LSU, slashing .426\/.567\/.713 in his final season. He was the Golden Spikes winner, the best hitter on an all-time team. He reached base in every game. His right-handed swing seemed flawless<\/a>. Crews was immediately a consensus top-10 prospect upon signing with the Nationals.<\/p>\n Three years later, Crews has bounced back and forth between the minors and majors, tweaking and retooling and re-retooling his swing. He should have been a lock to make Washington\u2019s opening day roster this year, but he had a scandalously poor spring (3-for-29, 0 XBH, 11 K). Crews instead began the season at Rochester, where he was \u2026 well, he was fine, but not spectacular. He produced a .777 OPS with five home runs among his 16 extra-base hits.<\/p>\n Crews was elevated to the big-league roster in mid-May, and it\u2019s been a relatively bumpy ride ever since. Recently, however, he\u2019s been as effective as we\u2019ve ever seen him. Crews has four multi-hit games over his past eight, with three doubles and a homer included. He\u2019s still batting just .226 on the season and .214 for his three-year career, so no one is ready to declare him an undeniable must-start player.<\/p>\n Still, Crews is still only 24 years old \u2014 not yet a finished product. The recent surge could be more than some temporary blip. Over Crews\u2019 first 150 games in the majors, he\u2019s cleared the fence 18 times and swiped 32 bags, so he definitely has the long-term potential to achieve fantasy relevance. Whenever he displays any hint of progress, he\u2019s worth a speculative pickup.<\/p>\n Max Meyer, you are an all-star<\/p>\n Jacob Misiorowski is almost certainly starting the MLB All-Star Game for the National League, but Meyer will take the ball at some point in the early innings. He tossed another 7.0 scoreless frames against the Cardinals on Friday, allowing only two hits and two walks, lowering his ERA to 2.60. His record on the season is an unblemished 9-0 and his K\/9 is 9.9.<\/p>\n Meyer has a five-pitch arsenal featuring a devastating slider\/sweeper combo that St. Louis simply could not solve:<\/p>\n Max Meyer\u2019s 2Ks in the 4th pic.twitter.com\/5bmRVMK8FR<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n He\u2019s a fine example of a well-hyped prospect who simply needed extra time (and an uninterrupted period of good health) in order to develop into a star. Meyer finally made himself ineligible for the weekly list of recommended two-start pitchers in this feature, because his roster percentage is now way too high. It was a pleasure promoting him while we could.<\/p>\n (Also: You should certainly make Meyer, Miz and any other early-season ace available for trade<\/a>, because, as a group, those charlatans cannot be trusted<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Jake Bennett takes another good turn<\/p>\n Maybe you were somewhat dismissive of the 6.0 stellar innings Bennett tossed at Coors Field last Monday (0 R, 0 BB, 9 K), because, hey, it was merely the Rockies. But the Boston rookie backed it up with another impressive start on Saturday, holding the Yankees to one run and three hits over 6.1 innings. The left-hander has six pitches in his bag and a whole lotta red on his Statcast page<\/a>.<\/p>\n After last week\u2019s excellence, Bennett\u2019s ERA sits at 3.27 through six starts for the Red Sox. The strikeout totals haven\u2019t been eye-popping, but he\u2019s a groundballist with good command who\u2019s allowed only two homers so far. It\u2019s early, but Bennett is looking like a serious asset. He\u2019s lined up to face the Angels in Anaheim next week, the friendliest matchup he\u2019s had since he was promoted to the majors. It\u2019s a great time to give him a test drive.<\/p>\n Charlie Condon is blazing hot in Albuquerque<\/p>\n Condon was the odd-man out for the Rockies this spring when he, Troy Johnston and TJ Rumfield were all feasting in Cactus League play. The 23-year-old hasn\u2019t exactly quieted down since joining the Triple-A Isotopes, delivering an OPS of .945 with 15 home runs and 50 RBI. Entering Sunday, Condon was slashing .299\/.438\/.701 in the month of June with seven homers (including multiple moonshots), four triples and 25 RBI.<\/p>\n Charlie Condon is starting to love that right-center field gap. It\u2019s the third time he has hit a triple that direction in a week, and this one drives in two runs!<\/p>\n B4: Albuquerque 7, Salt Lake 0 pic.twitter.com\/JOQOxC6NsR<\/a><\/p>\n