Dylan Gray Crews (born February 26, 2002) is an American

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

. Crews was born and raised in the

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...

region and attended

Lake Mary High School Lake Mary High School is a public high school located in Seminole County, Florida, operating under Seminole County Public Schools. It was opened in 1981. Campus Lake Mary High School was the fourth high school in Seminole County, opening for the ...

, where he played four years of varsity baseball. He was considered a top

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) draft prospect out of high school but withdrew himself from consideration to attend LSU. In his first year at the school, Crews ranked highly in several

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

hitting leaderboards and received media honors. He was a consensus first-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n and was named co-

SEC Player of the Year Southeastern Conference Player of the Year refers to the most outstanding player for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in a given sport for a given season. For lists of individual sport SEC Players of the Year by year: *Southeastern Conference Bas ...

in his sophomore year. Crews spent two years with the

United States national collegiate baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

. Crews is considered a top prospect for the 2023 Major League Baseball draft, with

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and other media outlets projecting him to be selected first overall.

Early life

Crews attended

Lake Mary, Florida Lake Mary is a suburban city that is located in the Greater Orlando metropolitan area in Seminole County, Florida, United States, and is located in Central Florida. The population was 13,822 at the 2010 census. History Lake Mary was named after ...

. During his amateur career, he played for

USA Baseball USA Baseball is the national governing body for organized baseball in the United States, and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The organization selects and trains the World Basebal ...

twice, once on their 14U team and once on their 18U team that won a gold medal. As a junior in 2019, he batted .389 with 15 stolen bases. That summer, he played in the

Under Armour All-America Baseball Game The Under Armour High School All-America Baseball Game is a high school baseball all-star game held annually to spotlight the United States' top high school players who are juniors or seniors. The game is played in late July or August, at Wrigley ...

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

. Although his senior season in 2020 was cut short due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he was considered a top prospect for the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

. However, he withdrew his name a week before, announcing he would fulfill his commitment to play

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

College career

Crews immediately became LSU's starting right fielder as a freshman in 2021. He started 63 games during the season, batting .362 with 18 home runs, 42 RBIs, 16 doubles, and 12 stolen bases. His 18 home runs were the most ever by a LSU freshman, surpassing

Mike Fontenot Michael Eugene Fontenot Jr. (; born June 9, 1980) is an American former professional baseball infielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, and Philadelphia Phillies. He batted left-handed and ...

's previous record of 17. He earned All-American honors and was named National Freshman of the Year by ''Perfect Game''. He was named to the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team represents the United States in international-level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Team USA won the Olympic baseball to ...

after the season. He also briefly played for the

Sanford River Rats The Sanford River Rats are a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league team located in Sanford, Florida. The team is a member of the Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) and plays its home games at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium. The ...

of the

Florida Collegiate Summer League The Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) is a six-team wood bat collegiate summer baseball league located in the Central Florida region of the southeastern United States. The league was founded in the fall of 2003 and began play in the summe ...

. In 2022, Crews shifted over to

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the Baseball positions, baseball and softball fielding position between Left fielder, left field and Right fielder, right field. In the numberi ...

. He was named the co-

Southeastern Conference Baseball Player of the Year The Southeastern Conference Player of the Year is a baseball award given to the Southeastern Conference's most outstanding player. The award was first given following the 1993 season, with both pitchers and position players eligible. After the 2003 ...

alongside

Sonny DiChiara Sonny DiChiara (born July 29, 1999) is an American baseball first baseman who plays in the Los Angeles Angels organization. Amateur career DiChiara grew up in Hoover, Alabama and attended Hoover High School. DiChiara began his collegiate career ...

. He finished the season having played in 62 games with a .349/.463/.691

slash line S sabermetrics :Sabermetrics is the analysis of baseball through objective evidence, especially baseball statistics. The term is derived from the SABR – the Society for American Baseball Research. The term was coined by Bill James, an e ...

with 22 home runs and 72 RBIs. Following the season's end, he was invited and returned to play with USA Baseball. Crews is considered a top prospect for the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. The ''MLB Pipeline'' ranking on

listed Crews as the best draft prospect available and projected him to be selected first overall by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

. ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' is a sports enterprise that covers baseball at every level, including MLB, with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in the MiLB, college, high school, and international leagues. It is currently published in the form o ...

'',

FanSided FanSided is a fandom-focused sports, lifestyle and entertainment network of more than 300 websites. It was co-founded and launched in 2009 by brothers Zach Best and Adam Best.Gounley, Thoma"Fan-focused websites started by Hillcrest grads acquire ...

, and Perfect Game also projected Crews to be selected first overall. FanGraphs ranked him as the third-best prospect in the draft.

Player profile

In his

draft profile, Crews has been described as "a plus hitter with plus power" with a "quick right-handed stroke" but was noted to have a tendency to whiff on

changeup A changeup is a type of pitch in baseball and fastpitch softball. The changeup is a staple off-speed pitch often used in a pitcher's arsenal, usually thrown to look like a fastball but arriving much more slowly to the plate. Its reduced speed ...

s. The website also described Crews as an "at least average" outfielder with arm strength, an ability to track fly balls, and a potential to play

at the major league level. Crews has been described as a five-tool player. LSU head coach

Paul Mainieri Paul Mainieri (born August 29, 1957) is a former baseball coach and second baseman. He played college baseball at LSU, Miami-Dade CC and New Orleans before pursuing a professional baseball career. He then served as the head coach of the St. Tho ...

credited Crews with a preparedness for the college level that he compared to that of alumni

DJ LeMahieu David John LeMahieu (; born July 13, 1988) is an American professional baseball infielder for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies. The Cubs selected LeMahieu in the ...

and

Alex Bregman Alexander David Bregman (born March 30, 1994) is an American professional baseball third baseman and shortstop for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). As a high school sophomore at Albuquerque Academy in 2010, Bregman became the ...

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crews, Dylan 2002 births Living people Baseball players from Florida Baseball outfielders Sportspeople from Seminole County, Florida People from Lake Mary, Florida LSU Tigers baseball players United States national baseball team players All-American college baseball players