Dylan Crews, the No. 2 decide within the 2023 MLB Draft, made his debut on August twenty eighth, so any dialogue of his numbers requires acknowledging the small pattern dimension we’re coping with, however…
Within the leadoff spot within the lineup, whereas CJ Abrams was both struggling, out of the lineup, or in West Palm Seaside, after an actual abrupt finish to his season, Crews put up a .145/.213/.261 line in 75 plate appearances.
Batting second (25 PAs), Crew completed at .174/.240/.174.
Batting seventh?: .333/.375/.619 in 24 PAs.
“I believe it’s rather less strain for him,” Davey Martinez instructed reporters earlier than the next-to-last recreation of the season (through which Crews hit sixth). “He’s a man that he research pitchers, so I believe simply him watching how a pitcher assaults hitters typically may also help a younger hitter.
“However I believe all in all he’s going to be a child that we in all probability need him to hit, as he develops, up within the high of the lineup. He can do some actually good issues.”
Martinez talked about the way in which Crews went about learning pitchers a number of instances within the final month-plus, and on the penultimate day of the season the supervisor talked at size about what he noticed from the 22-year-old high prospect whereas he was within the majors.
“I watch him — he’s one younger child the place he’s engaged within the recreation,” Martinez mentioned, “… watching the sport, watching all the pieces. Watching how guys get attacked. Watching positioning, all that stuff. He’s actually engaged on how different pitchers assault our hitters.
“Whether or not it’s right-handed or left-handed. He’s watching spin, whether or not a man throws a changeup. Their fastball utilization. All that stuff.”
“He’s the man sitting on the high of the dugout watching pitches,” the skipper mentioned in early September, “… watching the pitcher work, what he does, watching our at-bats.”
As Martinez described it, Crews’s unique-these-days strategy is a throwback to the way in which gamers did issues earlier than iPads within the dugouts, and on the spot footage of what pitchers are doing and what they’ve accomplished.
“I at all times say that’s old skool,” Martinez mentioned. “I imply, he’s not working to the iPad. He’s sitting there and he’s studying by watching the sport, which is fairly cool.”
And the advantages of that old skool strategy to learning pitchers?
“You study lots by watching the video games,” the veteran of 16 seasons as a participant within the majors and 7 now as a supervisor defined.
“It’s the way in which I used to be introduced up as a participant, and folks earlier than me and even folks after me.
“You’ll be able to nonetheless study lots from the iPad, however in case you watch the sport, the sport can inform you a large number. And he does that. He watches pitchers, how [they] assault right-handed hitters, what they’re making an attempt to do, the spin on the ball, and the changeup, the way it’s working. He led off the opposite day and he went proper to [Andrés] Chaparro and was telling him, ‘Hey, his slider has slightly extra chunk than we thought, so get the ball up,’ so it was superior to listen to him speak about it. He’s a pupil. He pays consideration to element.
“As you realize, I wish to hearken to gamers earlier than I put my two cents into issues. However it’s nice to speak, particularly with him, as a result of he understands what he’s making an attempt to do.”
GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo too favored what he noticed from Crews in his first publicity within the majors, telling Audacy’s The Sports activities Junkies in an early September interview Crews confirmed he belonged within the large leagues.
“I believe he’s proven his skillset very clearly and it’s the consistency that wants enchancment like nearly each younger participant that we’ve ever had right here,” Rizzo instructed the Junkies.
“He’s received the skillset and the temperament and the make-up to be a profitable big-time participant within the large leagues. And I believe he’s accomplished terrific in a really quick [span],” Rizzo continued. “I believe he’s proven all the pieces he wants to point out that he belongs right here. And now he has to cope with the consistency angle and the on a regular basis stuff of this main league season.
“He’s received lots to study, [he’s] simply scratching the floor, however I believe he’s going to be a very good participant for us.”
