This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato's Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- In 2023, Dylan Crews won the College Baseball World Series, earned the Golden Spikes Award and was drafted No. 2 overall. In the offseason, he bought a house.
Enough excitement for one year? Not quite.
Crews and his now-fianc¨¦e, Jane Carson, got a dog. They named the bernedoodle puppy Dude.
Then, they adopted Dude¡¯s brother, Socks.
¡°First we got Dude,¡± said Crews, who has their names embroidered on his baseball glove. ¡°A couple weeks went by, and Jane asked me if we can get a second one because nobody ended up getting Socks at the time. It took me a little bit to decide on that, but then I ended up saying we can get both. They're great dogs.¡±
Dude
Name: ¡°Dude is just a dude. He¡¯s the man.¡±
Vibe check: ¡°More chill. I would say he's more like a James Wood.¡±
Likes: ¡°He loves playing fetch. He loves this orange ball that he has. He'll do anything for that ball.¡±
Dislikes: ¡°Dude does not like fireworks. He hates them, actually.¡±
Socks
Name: ¡°Socks looks like he's got socks on.¡±
Vibe check: ¡°I would say he's more like a Yeppy [Juan Yepez], almost. He¡¯s got a good energy to him.¡±
Likes: ¡°He loves food, just treats and stuff.¡±
Dislikes: ¡°He hates shoes for some reason. I don¡¯t know what it is.¡±
Dude and Socks are Bernese mountain dog and poodle mixes. Although they have different personalities, they rarely leave one another¡¯s side.
¡°They're attached to the hip,¡± said Crews, MLB Pipeline's No. 4 overall prospect. ¡°They do everything together. They can eat together, they sleep together. ¡ They can't do anything without each other.¡±
Dude and Socks will be spending this season in Washington, D.C. Crews has brought the dogs to the baseball fields at LSU, and he looks forward to them attending Pups at the Park at Nationals Park.
¡°It will definitely help [having them in D.C.], for sure,¡± Crews said. ¡°It's like kids: you show up to the house after a game and you see them, everything kind of goes out the window. So it's awesome having them there.¡±