WASHINGTON -- With outfielder Alex Call traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dylan Crews getting closer to coming back, the Nationals outfield makeup is changing, with three young outfielders getting the opportunity to play in the final two months of the season.
All-Star James Wood is the left fielder, so the opportunities for younger players to make their mark will be in center and right field. And 26-year-old Jacob Young has played 233 games since 2024, mostly in center field.
Daylen Lile has been up and down a couple of times. The 2021 second-round Draft pick arrived on May 23 following Crews’ left oblique strain injury, and was optioned back to Triple-A June 6. Ten days later, he was back in D.C.
The 2023 first rounder Crews has been on the 60-day IL, but his rehab is going well. The former LSU star will play in the field six innings Saturday and Sunday for Triple-A Rochester. He began the season on the Opening Day roster and played 45 games with 158 at-bats, hitting .196 with seven homers and 15 RBIs.
2020 first rounder Robert Hassell III also got his chance in May, but was sent back to Rochester. Now with Call gone, he will get his second opportunity in The Show. The former Padres top prospect spent 21 games with the Nationals from May 22 to June 15, batting .171 during that stretch.
Sent back to Triple-A, Hassell got to work, slashing .336/.435/.516 in 33 games with six doubles, 25 RBIs, 23 walks, 23 strikeouts, 26 runs and seven stolen bases.
"Everything worked well for me,” Hassell said of his time back with Rochester. “[I’m] happy to be back."
Hassell made it clear that despite some rocky moments his confidence never wavered.
"It's good,” Hassell said of his recent consistency in Triple-A. “It's what I have been doing my whole life. I've had a couple down years, which is good to [learn from] struggle. But I have been hitting and playing baseball at a high level my whole entire life."
With the Nationals facing left-hander Jose Quintana in the series opener Friday night, interim manager Miguel Cairo went with Young and Lile in the outfield alongside Wood.
Lile delivered offensively with a triple, two runs and two RBIs, also reaching on a hit-by-pitch in the 16-9 loss to the Brewers.
"To me he is one of the most improved players in our team,” Cairo said. “When he went back to Triple-A and came back here, he's on a mission. He's saying 'I want to stay here'. He wants to stay in the big leagues and he's doing the job, putting in the [at-bats]. You could see the last at-bat [RBI double in the ninth], it was a fight. He didn't want to give the at-bat away. That's what you are looking for in your players."
Lile is hitting .360 (9-for-25) with three doubles, two triples, five RBIs, one walk, one hit-by-pitch, one stolen base and five runs scored over the past seven games. He has at least one base hit in nine of his past 14 games.
"Lile has been earning [playing time],” Cairo said. “Every day you have got to get better. It's not like you do good for two weeks and after that you sit back and say, 'I already made it.’ No, no, no. In the big leagues, [there's] no time off. Someone else is coming up behind you and you got to keep going forward. You cannot look back.
“We got young players and they got to know that. They got to know just because you are here that don't mean that you are going to [stay] here. You got to earn and you got to make sure that you keep earning every day that right to be in the big leagues and play every day."
You get the sense from Hassell he wants to get going and play now. But Cairo believes it will take time, comparing Hassell III’s current situation with what Lile went through.
"The way I saw Lile mature and made forward steps [is commendable],” Cairo said. “He is developing as a baseball player. That's what I hope I get to see from Hassell. He came to the big leagues. He [got] a little cup of coffee. He went back to Triple-A. Now, we are going to see what he [has] been doing, how he works, and if he can make those adjustments that you need to be here in the big leagues."
Hassell answered the call in his first game back.
Entering as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, he delivered a double and two-run single. After a 2-for-2 return Friday night, and the Nationals facing right-hander Brandon Woodruff, it is likely Hassell will get the start Saturday.
Similar to Lile, Hassell would love to continue the good vibes built up the last month at Triple-A. If you ask Lile he certainly feels like a different player in his second opportunity with the Nationals.
"Going back down I definitely learned a lot,” Lile said. “[I] was watching a lot of film, and coming back here for a second go-round, I wanted to make sure I enjoyed every moment. I felt like I put too much pressure on myself the first time coming up here. Second go-round, I just want to compete, have fun and just play baseball."