WASHINGTON -- As the Nationals continue to develop and evaluate their young talent, they designated one of their most veteran players for assignment.
The Nats DFA’d first baseman Nathaniel Lowe to make room for the return of outfielder Dylan Crews, who was reinstated from the 60-day injured list (left oblique strain) on Thursday.
“We have young players, and I think we want to see them play,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo. “We want to see what they can do in the last month, month and a half.”
Upon the completion of Crews’ rehab assignment, the Nationals faced an overcrowding in the outfield with the rookie-year emergence of No. 13 prospect Robert Hassell III and Daylen Lile. Instead of making a move with an outfielder, the Nats kept James Wood (22), Jacob Young (26), Crews (23), Hassell (23) and Lile (22) on the roster.
They will tab Wood as the designated hitter on occasion to open opportunities for playing time in left field while giving the slugger, who has already played 119 games this season, a chance to get off his feet. On Thursday, the Nationals started Lile in left field, Young in center, Crews in right and Wood at DH against Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo.
“You can see with Lile playing almost every day, how he became what he is right now compared to before,” Cairo said. “... It's going to be a rotation to make sure they get a lot of at-bats and [at] the same time, they get exposure to see what they can do.”
Acquired in a December trade from the Rangers for left-hander Robert Garcia, the 30-year-old Lowe slashed .216/.292/.373 and produced a .665 OPS, 16 homers and 68 RBIs across 119 games in his seventh Major League season. He hit his first career grand slam on Wednesday in Kansas City. Lowe was earning $10.3 million this season, following an arbitration hearing. He had one year remaining on his contract and would likely have been a non-tender candidate.
“Sometimes it goes like that, you have an off year,” Cairo said. “He was a true professional. He did his work, he came to the ballpark and expected to do something good. As you can tell, in the last couple of days, he was a little better. Yesterday, he had a really good game.”
The Nationals will fill the first-base vacancy with veterans Josh Bell and Paul DeJong. Bell, who turned 33 on Thursday, has made 859 career starts at first. DeJong, 32, is new to the role but has experience at every other infield position, including nearly 500 innings at the hot corner.
“He played third base,” Cairo said of DeJong. “So [if] you [have played] third base, [first base is] almost like you’re playing [third base] without throwing the ball. … I played third base, and when I went to first, I kind of loved it because I get to pick, and that's something that he does really well.”
Crews, who had been on the injured list since May 21 with a left oblique strain, entered Thursday with a .196/.266/.354 slash line with seven homers and 15 RBIs in 45 games in his first full big league season. In 13 rehab games with Triple-A Rochester, Crews hit .244 with one double, two home runs, seven RBIs, five runs, one walk and one stolen base.
“I feel great physically,” said Crews. “I've had no flare-ups here and there. I think overall, I've just been feeling good, feeling confident in my body. I’m just happy to be back in the locker room with the guys and finish strong here in these next two months.”