Washington Nationals Rising Star Named Potential NL Rookie of the Year
The Washington Nationals could be looking at accomplishing something for the first time of the decade.
Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline Podcast to come up with the most likely players to win the NL Rookie of the Year in 2025. Both hosts came together to immediately agree that the top candidate is Nationals rookie Dylan Crews.
Crews is still their top prospect in the nation heading into the winter. He posted a .218/.288/.353 slashing line with three home runs and a quiet 12 stolen bases in his first 31 big league games for Washington.
He was the second overall selection just last year and he is already ready for the show. Having those 31 games of development will be a large help for his offseason approach.
There have been three Nationals to win the rookie of the year. The latest, and only since the 70s, was Bryce Harper back in 2012.
Harper had an undeniably great rookie campaign, but he actually only barely beat out Wade Miley of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The now Philadelphia Phillies slugger put up a .270/.340/.477 slashing line with 22 home runs and 59 RBI and 18 stolen bases at just 19 years old to win the award.
That is a great introductory season, but it could realistically be matched by Crews if he comes back looking closer to the player Washington dreamed of him becoming when they drafted him last year.
It took even better numbers for Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll to take the award home last year.
Crews' biggest competion is likely to be Chicago Cubs infielder Matt Shaw, Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher Bubba Chandler and Phillies righty Andrew Painter.
Shaw was a 2023 draft pick that has had a red-hot start to his professional career. He had a .284/.379/.395 slashingline with a good strikeout rate, 21 home runs, 71 RBI and 31 stolen bases.
A 20/30 rookie season would be hard to overcome.
Chandler will join a fantastic rotation with relatively low stress toward the back end. He has a high-90s fastball that moves a ton. If he can cut down on his walks, he could be a very dangerous pitcher.
Painter is a weird case as he has only made six appearances since 2022, and those came in the most recent fall league. He picked up right where he left off, which was a sub-2.00 ERA over 103.2 innings in his first professional campaign.
