Robbing a hit, then swiping 2 bags? Crews does it all

WASHINGTON -- When shortstop CJ Abrams was scratched from the starting lineup on Friday because of left shoulder soreness, manager Dave Martinez bumped up the batting order and tabbed right fielder Dylan Crews in the leadoff spot.

Crews, ranked as the No. 1 prospect by MLB Pipeline, quickly got the Nationals going on both sides of the field in their 4-1 win over the Marlins and continued to make his mark in the series.

“Crews in right [field] is killing us,” said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. “That kid, he’s a special player. … For what he’s doing at the big league level, playing really hard, running down our baseline as hard as you can and disrupting us, fielding and making incredible plays in right field.”

‘Wow’ at the wall

For the second game in a row, Crews made a highlight reel-worthy play in the outfield. Marlins third baseman Connor Norby lined a fastball from DJ Herz a Statcast-projected 378 feet to the right-field wall in the second at-bat of the night.

Crews needed to cover 74 feet to reach the ball. He ran backwards, keeping his eye on the liner after it left Norby's bat at 100.3 mph.

“He understands how to play the game,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “What I love is, he breaks back as hard as he can break back, he looks for the fence and he positions himself well to catch the ball. He’s done it well every time he’s gone back there.”

Crews leapt on the warning track and acrobatically extended his left arm to secure the ball in his glove as he crashed his right side into the wall. Crews bounced off the wall next to the bullpen and bounced back up with the second out of a 1-2-3 inning in hand.

“I thought it was a home run,” Herz said. “I was ready to get the next ball, and then I saw everybody was still looking. I turned back and saw him jump up and make the catch. It was a great feeling to get out of that, so I was happy with that. Very happy.”

Crews noted the layout is “not your typical wall” because of the bullpen fence and its angle. He has been working with first-base coach Gerardo Parra, center fielder Jacob Young and left fielder James Wood to get acclimated.

“You definitely want to practice hard, and we’ve been doing that out there. It’s just kind of paying off right now,” Crews said, adding with a laugh: “I didn’t know I had the hops either like that.”

Hustle leads to hits

Leading off in the bottom of the frame, Crews smacked a ground ball to shortstop off right-hander Edward Cabrera that had a hit probability of 53 percent. But speed on the basepaths can impact those odds, and Crews used his hustle grit to do just that.

“I try to give it a hundred percent every time, and whatever happens, happens,” Crews said. “A lot of good things happen when you hustle, so [I] just try to keep that mentality every day.”

Crews did not think he had a chance to reach first base, but nonetheless he dashed with a sprint speed of 29.5 feet per second to beat out the throw from Xavier Edwards for a single. The league average on a competitive play is 27 feet/second, and 30 feet/second is considered elite.

“I think it really fired our guys up,” Martinez said. “That’s a routine ground ball that he hustled down the line and beat it out. The guys were really chirping that inning. And then it’s a trickle effect: I watched all those guys running down the line really hard after he did it, so it was awesome.”

Crews has reached base safely in 13 of his first 16 games played in the Majors since debuting on Aug. 26.

Stolen base: Parts 1 and 2

Once Crews reached first base, he was looking to steal second in Wood’s at-bat. Crews took off as Wood struck out looking, sliding in safely to beat out the attempt from catcher Nick Fortes for his seventh stolen base of the season.

Already given the go-ahead for when he sees an opportunity, Crews was off and running with José Tena at the plate two batters later. Crews stole third base as ball four bounced away from Fortes, who did not attempt a throw.

“I think it’s great,” Crews said. “It kind of fits into my game and my approach. Having the green light and trusting my instincts at the same time just lets you be free. It’s a rewarding gift, and it’s very rewarding when they let you do that as a player.”

It was the second multi-stolen base game of Crews' career, the first less than a week prior, on Sept. 7 at Pittsburgh.

“He’s very aggressive,” said Martinez. “He’s aggressive on the bases, he’s aggressive hitting, you see him play the outfield, it’s just who he is. And I love that about him.”