Alex Call has been one of the stories of the Washington Nationals season so far. The dude has done nothing but rake. He was raking last year before he got hurt, he was raking during Spring Training, and now he is raking to start the season.
Call is 6/11 with three walks to start his 2025 campaign. This is after he put up a .950 OPS in a small sample size last year. Right now, it is tough to keep Call out of the lineup. However, the Nats have three younger outfielders who are theoretically supposed to be ahead of him. All three have had underwhelming starts, with Jacob Young and Dylan Crews being particularly quiet.
The Nationals seemed all in on the idea of having James Wood, Jacob Young, and Dylan Crews as their outfield for this year and years to come. However, Call is making things awkward with his hitting.
For me Jacob Young is the likely odd man out. The Nats sat him each of the last two games and won both. Dylan Crews moved to his natural centerfield position while Call took over in right. I really liked the look of that alignment. Jacob Young is a tremendous defender, but he is a very limited hitter.
Last year, he hit a respectable .256, but it came with zero power, leading to a .647 OPS. This year Young has gotten off to a 1/15 start, which is why Davey pulled him from the lineup. If Young is not hitting for a decent average, he is just unplayable on offense. He is a great defender, but if you can’t hit, you can’t play.
Davey Martinez’s reasoning for leaving Young out of the lineup back to back days was to help him find his mechanics at the plate. Martinez said that Young was not seeing the ball away from him and also not catching up to inside pitches. That is not a great combination if you ask me.
Davey said that Young was his center fielder going forward, but I wonder how long that lasts if his bat doesn’t heat up. Dylan Crews has been showing signs of life at the plate over the last few days, so sending him down to the minors feels less likely. Crews also looks more comfortable in his natural center field position as well. He is not the defender Young is, but he is still very good out there.
Alex Call has been a spark plug that has led to Nationals victories. I don’t think you can take him out of the lineup for Young or Crews. Maybe there can be a rotation of Young, Crews, and Call.
Another idea would be to put Call or James Wood at DH to get all four in the lineup some days. Josh Bell has not exactly been lighting the world on fire at the moment. I don’t know how this is going to play out, but Alex Call needs to be in the lineup on a regular basis. Davey Martinez is going to have to find a way to be creative because Call is a pure hitter, which the Nats need. The Washington Nationals have to make a tough call with their outfield.
