In this series, I’ll examine MLB players whose dynasty values have shifted. When we consider the word “value”, there are different ways or explanations for the shift. Think of it as a price tag at a store. Come December, the price of a swimsuit might be listed as half-off. Why? Because it’s not that appealing right now. But that price will go up around March when it looks more appealing. The swimsuit itself didn’t necessarily change. The demand did.

Now, there will be times when that swimsuit has a hole in it. It does not look the same anymore, which is why the price went down. 

Or, the suit style is not "in" anymore. A once flashy-looking bathing suit now appears hideous to most. But as we all know, fashion trends usually have a way of coming back in style. That’s why I still have my cargo pants and bucket hat in the closet.

3 Down 📉

Dylan Crews, OF WSH

.106, 5 R, 3 SB, 36.7% K-Rate

I don’t think Crews is on the sales rack. He’s probably not in the display window. 
Crews came into the season as one of the most hyped prospects in baseball, but he’s off to a brutal start with the Nationals. 

So far this season, Crews has just five hits (all singles) in 49 plate appearances, good for a .106 batting average. Only one of his hits has made it to the outfield grass on the fly! That’s not the Dylan Crews we saw in college or the minors. He’s typically a spray hitter with pop to all fields.

To make matters worse, Crews and Rafael Devers were trending early in the year—but not for the right reasons. All over Twitter, we were seeing, “Crews has 10 strikeouts in 15 at-bats.” That’s not the kind of publicity you want. But since the calendar flipped to April, the strikeout rate has come down—just eight strikeouts in his last 32 at-bats. That’s progress.

Still, the struggles are real. Crews have seen 26 off-speed pitches and have whiffed on more than half of them—a 15% increase from last year. When he does make contact, it’s been weak grounders. Fastballs haven’t been much better; he’s whiffing at a 22% clip and having trouble squaring them up, often rolling over instead of driving the ball.

That’s a stark contrast to last year when he used his above-average bat speed to crush fastballs. His 10-degree launch angle helped him post a .522 slugging percentage and a 10% whiff rate on heaters. That launch angle has been cut in half to start the year.

Surprisingly, he’s seeing more fastballs this year and fewer off-speed pitches, but he’s struggling against both. His in-zone contact rate is down by 4%, and his chase rate is up by nearly 5%. Still, there are signs the numbers are trending in the right direction.

As he gets more comfortable seeing Major League pitching, I expect him to start driving fastballs again. Once that happens, pitchers will be forced to adjust, and Crews got unlucky against off-speed pitches last year. There was a .160 difference between his slugging and expected slugging. 

Here at PLive, Crews ranked as our 82nd overall dynasty player, valued at $15. He may be available at a discount if a league mate is getting nervous. You probably won't get him at a bargain-bin price, but I believe he might be for sale—for now.

After another month of reps, I think that door will slam shut. He’s too talented to slump for long, and he’s already shown the ability to adjust, especially with the strikeouts coming down. The value might be down, but that doesn’t mean it’ll never be swimsuit season again!