I'm keeping these two in one thread because I believe they will be talked about as a pair for the foreseeable future. They both are needed to be franchise cornerstones. Wood as a hitter already has shown in MLB tremendous power and an ability to work counts. Crews has not met with projections on his hitting, but has shown high level baserunning and D and an ability to deal with attention. I think it's fair to say that the lineup is dependent on these two becoming above average to all star level performers if the Nats are to contend any time over the next 5 years (their period of team control).
Linked is an article by Golden profiling their debuts, the attention they've gotten, the impression on teammates, and their approach to playing and the spotlight.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/01/01/james-wood-dylan-crews-nationals-2025/Starts out talking about how Gallo sought out their autographs at the end of the year. Gallo had played with Judge, Stanton, Freeman, Trea Turner, Mookie, and grew up with Harper.
Gallo:
“They’re special guys. They’re special players. … Not just talented, but guys who mean well and are good teammates as well,” Gallo said. “That’s what you want as the future of your team.”
Zimmerman compares the pressure he had at the start of his career to what these players face now:
[Zimmerman] debuted before social media and prospect videos were easily accessible. Now, that accessibility creates expectations that high-profile prospects are often expected to quickly meet.
“A lot of these guys have been superstars since they were in high school,” Zimmerman said. “I think it kind of helps them that they’ve been dealing with it for so long. But I think it’s sort of unfair for a lot of these kids to have to deal with it as soon as they get here.”
Wood talks about being recognized in public, which started after his trade to the Nats. Teammates talk about how even-keeled he is with the attention and his approach to the game. Jacob Young:
“A lot of times, if those guys don’t have the best attitude toward their work or anything like that, it can hurt the guys below them because they’ll look up, like, ‘I don’t need to work,’” Young said. “He’s not like that at all. He’s putting his head down. He focuses on the game, doesn’t focus on all the outside noise. It kind of just shows everyone else, ‘If he can do this with all the outside noise he has, we can do it, too.’”
Golden observes Crews giving out autographs during a rain delay before one of the final series. Crews talks about how he's gotten used to attention and tries to deal with it like other LSU stars like Bregman, Odell Beckham, and Shaq. He believes playing before 10-15 thousand a game got him used to attention.
When Crews joined Class AAA Rochester, the media presence around the team shifted. Catcher Drew Millas called it “out of control” and said the fan excitement was higher than at any other time during his career. But the Nationals wanted to see how Crews handled all the hype.
“He was just another one of the guys,” Millas said. “He’s a great example for other guys that are watching. I couldn’t say enough good things about him, his work ethic and attitude.”
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Golden recaps the pluses and minuses of their debuts in terms of performance, then closes with quoting both of them on knowing they will grow together and have to push each other for the team's success.
