When he struggles on the diamond, when the strikeouts mount and the pressure ramps up, young Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews thinks about his friend Aubrey White.
Aubrey is an 11-year-old girl from Baton Rouge, La., who has a form of autism that leaves her with no functional verbal language skills. She uses spelling to communicate, takes many medications and is currently dealing with a severe spinal deformity that will require surgery this summer.
Her childhood, therefore, has presented her and her family with many challenges.
But in Crews, a five-tool baseball talent who broke camp with the Washington Nationals as MLB Pipeline¡¯s No. 4 prospect, Aubrey has a true, albeit unlikely, friend.
¡°Even when times are bad,¡± said the 23-year-old Crews, who went hitless in the first week of the season, ¡°I realize it could be a lot worse, and it¡¯s not the end of the world. I know I have Aubrey and a whole community by my side, no matter what.¡±
That community of special needs families bonded by baseball is one that was built in Baton Rouge, where Crews starred for a Louisiana State University team that won the 2023 national championship before the Nats took him at No. 2 overall (just behind teammate Paul Skenes) in that year¡¯s MLB Draft.
And it¡¯s a community that Crews intends to grow in Washington, D.C.
April is national Autism Acceptance Month, and Dylan Crews and Aubrey White are a terrific example of what acceptance can accomplish.
When the White family visited Crews at the Nationals¡¯ Spring Training camp in West Palm Beach, Fla., last month, they graciously let us at MLB.com tag along to document their experience and learn more about this incredible friendship, which we first told you about when Crews was drafted.
For much of Aubrey¡¯s childhood, her parents could not have imagined she¡¯d have a friend like Dylan Crews.
¡°Every parent worries about how your kids are going to make friends, especially when your child is non-verbal,¡± said Aubrey¡¯s mom, Crystal. ¡°How is she going to navigate developing a relationship with good friends?¡±
The White family found an unlikely answer to that question.
It happened one day in the spring of 2021, when Crystal and her husband, Robbie -- both of whom are lifelong LSU fans -- had an LSU baseball game on TV in their Baton Rouge-area home. The broadcast announced that a highly touted freshman named Dylan Crews was coming to bat for the Tigers.
¡°Dylan Crews!¡± Aubrey repeated. ¡°Dylan Crews!¡±
Imagine being a parent to a 7-year-old child who has never spoken. Never said, ¡°Mommy!¡± Never said, ¡°Daddy!¡± Never said, ¡°I love you!¡±
And then one day, completely out of the blue, she says, ¡°Dylan Crews!¡±
¡°We looked at each other,¡± Robbie said, ¡°like we had seen a ghost.¡±
Aubrey kept repeating Crews¡¯ name so many times that Crystal was able to grab her phone and capture this magic moment on video. She shared it privately on Facebook, and the mother of one of the LSU players saw it. At the Tigers¡¯ next game, that mom showed it to Crews¡¯ mom, Kim, who showed it to Dylan, who immediately had an idea.
¡°Let¡¯s get her to a game,¡± he told his mom. ¡°I want to meet her!¡±
This was easier said than done. Most fans would leap at the opportunity to bring their child to a ballgame and to meet a player. But because Aubrey¡¯s condition makes her sensitive to crowds and to loud noises, her family had never even considered taking her to a sporting event.
¡°I¡¯m not sure how that works,¡± Crystal recalled responding. ¡°But we can try.¡±
Kim Crews and her husband, George, told the Whites they would make arrangements to make the experience as comfortable as possible for Aubrey. She was let into Alex Box Stadium early, before the rest of the crowd, to meet Dylan at batting practice and get acclimated to the environment. And sure enough, the family had a great time at the game, with Aubrey rooting on her new friend/favorite player.
¡°For her to embrace someone she just met, we knew he was a good person,¡± Crystal said. ¡°Because she is only going to sit by the calm person who she knows is a safe person. She chose Dylan, and she was right. It taught me she doesn¡¯t have to speak to make friends. She can make friends with Dylan Crews, and that just blew my mind.¡±
It could have ended there.
But this heartwarming story only got better.
Meeting Dylan Crews made Aubrey a baseball fan for life. She began playing in an adaptive baseball league and, in his time off, Crews would drive out to see her games.
¡°She¡¯s an amazing child,¡± Crews said of Aubrey. ¡°And it¡¯s an amazing family. They¡¯re some of the best supporters I¡¯ve ever had. They¡¯re more than friends. They¡¯re family.¡±
Because Aubrey¡¯s first experience at a game went so well, Crews decided he wanted to provide that experience for other families who have children with conditions like autism, cerebral palsy and spina bifida.
So for the rest of his collegiate career, that¡¯s what he did. He and his family purchased season tickets at Alex Box and donated them. Crystal took the lead on finding special needs families in the community and encouraging them to go.
¡°It¡¯s about inclusion,¡± George Crews said. ¡°We¡¯ve seen the impact it has on the children. The families tell us they just don¡¯t usually get invited to things.¡±
By the end of Dylan Crews¡¯ junior year, in his final home game at Alex Box, dozens of these families, referring to themselves as ¡°Crews¡¯ Krewe,¡± held a huge pregame tailgate and then were there in the stands down the right-field line, cheering like crazy when Crews doubled in his final at-bat.
¡°It was just an amazing sight,¡± Robbie said.
Again, it could have ended there.
But the story goes on.
When Crews was drafted by the Nationals, the team, aware of what the friendship means to both families, sent Aubrey a stuffed dog wearing a red Nats bandana.
¡°That showed us,¡± said George Crews, ¡°we were in the right place.¡±
The Crews and White families have stayed in touch regularly. Even though Crews went on to pro ball, they¡¯ve continued the ticket program at LSU, bringing more and more families into the community they¡¯ve created.
And the Crews family is making plans to expand that program to Nationals Park, as Dylan finds his footing at the MLB level and tries to realize his star potential.
¡°I¡¯m on a different platform than a lot of people, so it¡¯s my job to use my platform to the best of my abilities,¡± Crews said. ¡°My parents always tell me it¡¯s one thing to be a good baseball player and another thing to be a good person. So I¡¯m trying to bring a whole new community to the Nationals and make them a part of what we do.¡±
When Aubrey saw Dylan in person for the first time in a long time outside the batting cages at the Nationals¡¯ spring facility last month, she went to the ground and curled in a ball. That¡¯s how she shows her excitement. It¡¯s called stimming -- or self-stimulatory behavior -- and it¡¯s how many individuals with non-verbal autism regulate their emotions and process sensory information.
The excitement was understandable. Because in Dylan Crews, Aubrey White has found an ally, someone who has lifted her up.
Robbie shared a story he was told by Aubrey¡¯s teachers.
¡°Aubrey was walking through the halls with her special-needs class,¡± he said. ¡°Kids were pointing. But they¡¯re not pointing to make fun of her. They were pointing and they were saying, ¡®That¡¯s Dylan Crews¡¯ friend, Aubrey.¡¯ Like they were in awe of Aubrey. So she wasn¡¯t the brunt of a joke; she was put on a pedestal. Just because of what he did.¡±
And no matter what happens on the baseball field, Dylan has his friend rooting for him.
¡°It¡¯s something I¡¯ll cherish,¡± he said, ¡°for the rest of my life.¡±
To learn more about Autism Acceptance Month, visit the Autism Society of America¡¯s website.