As we enter September, the Nationals are out of the playoff hunt. However, that does not mean these games are meaningless. There are three players whose future could be shaped by what they do this month. Dylan Crews, Harry Ford and Abimelec Ortiz all need strong finishes to the season to secure a spot on the team in 2027 and beyond.
Dylan Crews is the highest profile example of a player who needs a strong final chapter to the season. So far, Crews' career has been defined by taking one step forward before taking two steps back. He has had some big moments, but has never been able to follow those up with consistent play.
His walk-off against the Marlins is the perfect example of this. That could have been a real turning point for Crews where he gathered momentum. However, in the three games since that walk-off, Crews is hitless. Honestly, that is the story of his Nationals career.
You can see flashes of the talent that made him the number 2 overall pick. However, they are not consistent enough and the end result is not good enough. For the season, Crews is hitting just .216 with a .643 OPS. That is pretty much the hitter he has been his whole MLB career now. In 741 career at bats, Crews is a .213 hitter with a .638 OPS.
Unless he has a strong finish to the season, Crews should not be given the sort of everyday playing time he has gotten this season. James Wood, Daylen Lile and Jacob Young have all proven to be better than him so far. This month is a chance for Crews to finish strong and prove to the club that he belongs.
In July, Crews posted an OPS over .800. If he can do that again in September, it would go a long way for him. However, time is running out for the former LSU star. I could see him being a potential trade chip this offseason as a change of scenery candidate. It could be the best thing for all parties if things don't get better quickly.
Harry Ford has not had as much time to prove himself in the big leagues as Crews, but he has also had a tough year. When the Nats traded for Ford in the offseason, many people including myself assumed he would quickly establish himself as the Nats starting catcher. However, that has not been the case as Keibert Ruiz has re-established himself while Ford has not shown the power he did last year.
The 23 year old started the year in Rochester and got off to a brutal start. He posted a .531 OPS in April and it was an uphill battle from there. To his credit, Ford got better every month. His OPS was over .800 in both June and July. That earned him a big league call up.
So far in the big leagues, it has been a mixed bag. On the positive side of things, his defense has been about average , which is better than expected. He has also shown off his trademark plate discipline, with a chase rate of just 18.7%. That number is in Juan Soto territory and it is why he is walking over 12% of the time.
The plate discipline is the only thing propping up his offensive profile right now though. His .697 OPS is not terrible for a rookie, but the lack of slugging is a concern. Ford was seen as having average power before this year, but his quality of contact has fallen off a cliff.
In the big leagues, his average exit velocity is just 83.5 MPH. That is problematic for a player whose contact skills are just average. Right now, there is a lot of blue on his Baseball Savant page. He will need a strong finish to the season in order to establish himself as a full time big leaguer. At the moment, he is closer to Drew Millas than Keibert Ruiz.
I also think this offseason is very important for Ford. He needs to find a way to hit the ball harder and improve his bat speed. The plate discipline is great, but he needs to show more thump to keep pitchers from just pounding the zone.
For Abimelec Ortiz, thump is not the issue. The 24 year old first baseman has big power and bat speed. Those qualities, along with a solid hit tool helped him get off to a fantastic start in the big leagues. He burst onto the scene, hitting 5 homers and batting over .300 in his first 14 games.
However, Ortiz's flaws have been brutally exposed lately. Right now he is chasing way too much and not working quality at bats. In the big leagues, Ortiz's chase rate is 37.4%. That is way too high for a hitter of his profile. It leads to quick outs and causes him to do less damage than he should.
Ortiz will never be a guy who takes a ton of walks, but he needs to walk more than 5% of the time. In AAA, Ortiz's swing rate was just 45.6% but that has jumped to 51.4% in the show. This month, Big Abi needs to show an ability to make the proper adjustments if he wants to stick around long term.
After the way he started his career, the 1B job seemed like his to lose. However, he seems to be losing it right now. Ortiz can reclaim that spot if he can bounce back. The talent is there, he just needs to stop swinging so much.
Overall, there are a lot of players who have points to prove this month. Dylan Crews, Harry Ford and Abimelec Ortiz are on the top of the list though. All three are talented, but they need to show that talent more consistently down the stretch.
