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Dylan Crews’ decision to postpone the pros and play for LSU paid off big time
By Les East
Published:
Dylan Crews would have been drafted coming out of high school.
He might have been a fairly high first-round pick even then.
But he opted out of the draft to do his MLB prep at LSU.
If he had stayed in the draft in 2020, he might well be playing in the Major Leagues right now. Instead he won’t learn his professional employer – presumably the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft that opens Sunday evening (7 p.m. ET, ESPN), or at worst the Washington Nationals (No. 2) or the Detroit Tigers (No. 3) – for another few days.
The expectation is that the remainder of Crews’ wait to reach the Major Leagues won’t be all that long, but he is behind where he would have been – financially and statistically – had he turned pro straight out of Lake Mary (Fla.) High School.
But it turns out Crews had as good an eye as a teen-aged decision-maker as he has as the most accomplished hitter in Tigers history.
When Crews’ senior season in high school was cut short by COVID-19, it just reinforced his notion that he wasn’t as far advanced as he wanted to be upon entering the MLB Draft.
He thought playing 3 seasons for one of the most successful college programs would get him to where he wanted to be – and he also was eager to experience college life beyond baseball, even though nowadays it’s common for elite baseball prospects such as Crews to be looked down upon for making the decision he made.
“I just trusted my gut,” Crews said of choosing an LSU program that “had all the resources that I needed.”
He chose wisely.
Crews fits the bill of a 5-tool player – former LSU coach Paul Mainieri called him “the total package” and a “can’t-miss prospect” when Crews arrived in Baton Rouge – and Crews won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s best player while helping the Tigers win their 7th national championship last week.
Though Crews and the Tigers finished on top as his career ended, his 3-year stay was a gradual evolution, not unlike what he might have experienced ascending through the farm system of whatever organization would have drafted him.
Crews’ 1st season was the last season for Mainieri, who was the 2nd-most successful LSU coach in history – behind that Skip Bertman guy.
Mainieri’s final team fell a bit short of expectations by barely making the NCAA tournament field, which hastened the coach’s departure, though Crews and his teammates wrote a first draft of a storybook ending by bouncing back from an opening loss to win 4 straight games and claim the Eugene Regional.
But the draft was never completed as LSU was swept by Tennessee in the Knoxville Super Regional.
Crews was named to a series of Freshman All-America first teams and was Perfect Game’s National Freshman of the Year.
After Mainieri’s tenure ended, LSU scoured the country for a successor likely to bring the Tigers back to the Men’s College World Series in the near future. They zeroed in on Arizona coach Jay Johnson, and Crews – barely a year from being one of the most sought-after recruits in the country – was sort of on the other end of the Johnson recruitment.
“Frankly, he was a big reason why I accepted the job,” Johnson said of Crews. “Knowing that I was going to have a once-in-a-lifetime player for 2 years was a big deal.”
As a sophomore, Crews was SEC Co-Player of the Year and a consensus All-American, but Johnson’s 1st team didn’t last as long in the postseason as Mainieri’s last team did, losing to Southern Miss in the Hattiesburg Regional.
But the stars aligned – literally and figuratively – in 2023 with Crews regarded in most quarters as the best position player in the country. With the addition of right-hander Paul Skenes (Air Force) and third baseman Tommy White (NC State) through the transfer portal, Johnson assembled a group that brought LSU to Omaha for the first time since 2017 and brought home the school’s first title since 2007.
Crews batted .426, hit 18 home runs and scored 100 runs. He reached base in every game and has done so in 75 consecutive games dating to last season.
He’ll try to extend that streak when he makes his professional debut this summer.
When the draft begins, it will be just a matter of moments before Crews’ name is called and he finally learns where the professional phase of his baseball career will begin.
Crews said he had 2 major goals in mind when he opted out of the 2020 draft – “to be the best player that I can when I re-enter the draft in 2023” and “hopefully win a national championship.”
He accomplished both, proving something else he said: “There’s no shortcuts in baseball.”
Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.
