Few things in baseball are as exciting and rewarding as watching a young player come up and make an immediate impact for your favorite team. Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle is not just this year's runaway American League Rookie of the Year favorite; he'll get MVP votes. Brewers righty Jacob Misiorowski is the overwhelming National League Cy Young favorite in his first full MLB season.
Things don't always work out that way, though. The Cardinals had to wait three years for outfielder Jordan Walker to reach his All-Star upside. Lefty Reid Detmers is finally leading the Angels rotation more than five years after his big-league debut.
It's a hard and unforgiving sport, and development is not always linear. Some players need time to settle in. With that in mind, here are five still-young players yet to cement themselves as building blocks with their organization, and what they need to do to lock down a long-term roster spot.
And, for argument's sake, we'll throw in some potential landing spots in case their teams decide to go the change-of-scenery trade route. Why he's here: Dylan Crews, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 Draft behind Paul Skenes, has spent the last three seasons hitting ineffectively at the big-league level when he wasn't hurt or in the minors. His MLB slash line has been remarkably consistent, though not in a good way: There are some encouraging signs under the hood.
Crews is hitting the ball harder and in the air more often this season, though he has traded some contact to get those hard-hit balls in the air. Alas and alack, it has not led to more production. It has just slightly changed the shape of his middling production.
Crews is on this list because he hasn't hit much, plain and simple. What he needs to do: Sacrificing some contact to hit the ball hard in the air is a worthwhile trade-off. Washington's front office has helped several players make similar adjustments (Keibert Ruiz, Jacob Young, the since-traded Luis García Jr.), so there is a track record of this working.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
