By Glenn Guilbeau
Tiger Rag Editor
Circle Sept. 5-8 on your Major League Baseball schedule.
On one of those days, Dylan Crews, the newest member of the Washington Nationals, will likely face Pittsburgh Pirates ace and rookie MLB All-Star game starter Paul Skenes in Pittsburgh. The pair led LSU to the 2023 national championship and became the first players in MLB history to go Nos. 1 and 2 in the same draft weeks later.
Crews, who was the second player picked in the MLB Draft in 2023 after Skenes went No. 1 overall out of LSU, was 0-for-3 with a walk in his debut in the Nationals’ 5-2 home loss to the New York Yankees on Monday night. The Nationals host the Yankees Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. on MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) and on the MLB Network.
Crews, 22, struck out with two runners in scoring position in the sixth inning.
“It was an awesome feeling to go out there for the first time and compete with the guys,” Crews said after the game. “Obviously, we didn’t end up winning today, but tomorrow we’re going to come out swinging.”
Crews started in center field after hitting .270 with 13 home runs and 68 RBIs for the Double-A Harrisburg (Pa.) Senators and the Triple-A Rochester (N.Y.) Red Wings this summer. He was called up by Washington over the weekend.
“I was thrilled honestly,” Crews said at a press conference Monday afternoon before his debut. “Finding out for the first time in front of the whole team, to, it was a special moment. And forever thankful.”
LSU coach Jay Johnson was able to make the game at Nationals Park Monday.
“Going to college really helped me to stay present every day,” Crews said in the press conference. “And coach Jay over there at LSU really helped me stay focused on my craft every day.”
A native of Altamonte Springs, Florida, Crews played from 2021-23 for LSU after former coach Paul Mainieri signed him out of Lake Mary High in Lake Mary, Florida. The opportunity to coach Crews was lagniappe for Johnson, who replaced Mainieri to enter the 2022 season.
Crews won the Golden Spikes award that goes to the nation’s best player in 2023 as he hit .426 with 18 home runs, 70 RBIs, 71 walks and 100 runs scored. He led the nation in runs scored and walks and his batting average was No. 3 in the nation.
“It makes you think about all your family and all the sacrifices that it’s taken for me to get to this point,” Crews said. “Just truly thankful. It’s going to be fun. I’m excited. It’s a kid’s dream to put on a Major League uniform. Really excited to go out there and do what I’ve been doing since I was a little kid.”
Skenes (8-2, 2.16 ERA, 130 strikeouts) will be ready when the time comes to face his former teammate. He next pitches Wednesday at home at 11:35 a.m. against the Chicago Cubs.
“Yeah, it’s going to require a lot of mixing of all five of my pitches,” Skenes said in July of 2023 shortly before the MLB Draft when asked what it would be like pitching against Crews.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Crews said at the time. “I have nothing but respect for him. I respect his presence every single day.”
Crews did hit his first collegiate homer off Skenes back on Feb. 21, 2021, in Alex Box Stadium when Skenes pitched for Air Force against LSU in the second game of the season. Crews hit a solo homer to left field with one out in the bottom of the ninth to get the Tigers within 6-5. But Skenes retired the next two in order for the save, finishing with a strikeout of Tre Morgan.
“He was always been throwing at my throat since that home run,” Crews said two years ago of practice confrontations with Skenes. “But it’s nothing but love.”
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