Nationals prospect Dylan Cruz focused on the present in All-Star Futures Game

But because of what he was going to do on the field on Saturday, reporters were not coming to the crew. Instead, many of them wanted to ask what former LSU teammate, Paul Skenes, would do at Globe Life Field on Tuesday night. Skenes, last year’s first pick and Rookie of the Year candidate for the Pittsburgh Pirates, will start the All-Star Game for the National League, the first rookie in 30 years to do so.

“I am so happy for her. He deserves everything,” Crews said. “I’m not surprised at all that he’s starting.”

The Crew and Skenes have long been tied to each other by a strange thread of baseball history. Crews’ first collegiate home run came off Skanes while the elder Wright was in the Air Force. By the time Skenes transferred to LSU for the Tigers’ 2023 championship run, Crews had established himself as one of the more accomplished collegiate hitters in recent memory. This time last year, this pair seemed certain to go first and second in the draft, the only question was who would go first.

The pirates took Skanes. The citizens took the team. Crews has had success in the minor leagues and is hitting .253 with a .713 OPS in his first 20 games at Class AAA Rochester, a resume that will make him one of the quickest movers in an elite draft class.

But Cruz and Skanes were the top picks in a class that also included Florida standout Wyatt Langford at No. 4. Skenes debuted in May to massive fanfare and has a 1.90 ERA in his first 11 starts. Langford made the Texas Rangers out of spring training and is hitting .254 with a .702 OPS in his first 72 big league games. One can hardly blame Cruz, who has also watched fellow Nationals prospect James Wood make his debut in recent weeks, for feeling a little left behind. However, if the 22-year-old was feeling any extra weight, he certainly didn’t show it on Saturday.

“There is no pressure in it. Whenever it’s my time, it’s my time,” Crews said. “It is not my decision. I just have to do what I have to do, and that’s where my steps are every day and I have to do what I have to do that day to be at a high level.”

Crews carries himself with a quiet certainty, time-honored comfort under pressure and a clear sense of self that stands out among players his age. In some ways, he feels familiar, a little Harperian because of his tenacity in the spotlight, though even whispers of comparisons to Bryce Harper are unfair. Crews did not become Baseball America’s No. 4 prospect because of sheer power or years of teenage hype. He became an accomplished hitter known for speed and finesse, a man who possessed strength and the ability to make adjustments in the gaps. And he did it because, after letting the pressure and expectations get to him in high school, he spent his college years learning how to juggle both.

“Going to college really helped me be present every day,” Cruz said. “…In high school, I was always thinking about the draft, not what was happening at that moment. I went to college to reset myself a little bit, so by going through the minor league system, I can just focus on what I need to do.

Cruz had a slow start to his season at Class AA Harrisburg. On May 14, he was hitting .234 with a .676 OPS. By mid-June, he was hitting .274 with a .789 OPS, five home runs and 15 stolen bases, the recovery being so quick that he was promoted to Class AAA on June 18.

Since then, against the offspeed-heavy repertoire prevalent these days in Class AAA, Crews has found more power, hitting three homers in 20 games with Rochester after going five-for-51 with Harrisburg. And he’s reduced his strikeout rate from 24 percent in Harrisburg to 19 percent in Rochester, albeit in a much smaller sample.

“I think as you move forward, people blossom more. They know how to throw their third, fourth, fifth pitch for strikes,” Crews said. “You have to approach it as a hitter and teach yourself how to hit your pitches. …I’ve learned a lot moving forward.”

People familiar with Washington’s thinking have indicated that Crews, in the Nationals’ view, is not far behind Wood in terms of big league preparation. Whether that means he’ll debut this year or enter spring training in 2025 with a clear shot at the big leagues remains to be seen. Whenever Cruz does debut, he will likely still be ahead of the typical development schedule of almost any other top draft pick. He said that he is right on his time.

“(The wood) is amazing. He’s an incredible talent – ​​a guy who has a different sound coming off his bat,” Crews said. “He’s out there doing his job. And whenever my time comes there, I’ll be ready for it.”