Royals’ 2023 MLB Draft looks even better after Nationals’ shocking roster cut

The prospect world is currently being captivated by the 2026 MLB Spring Breakout games, which got into full swing starting on Thursday.

However, as exciting as these showcase games are, there’s other news relating to prospects and promising youngsters as MLB teams work to solidify their Opening Day rosters ahead of next week while all this prospect hype is going on.

While some rising stars will be receiving good news in the coming days, others will be receiving a dose of harsh reality.

He may’ve shed his prospect status some time ago, but Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews still holds the status of being one of MLB’s more notable up-and-coming names in recent years.

However, since getting the call to big leagues in 2024, Crews has struggled to find any sort of footing and his MLB career arc hit a new low on Friday after the Nats optioned him to Triple-A to start the 2026 season.

While the Royals never had a chance to select Crews in the 2023 MLB Draft, selecting current Top 100 prospect Blake Mitchell at pick eight, one thing many like to do is wonder what could have been if their team just had a higher pick.

This is especially the case after the Royals dropped down from their projected top five pick in the lottery that year.

But while landing an established big league name like Paul Skenes, Wyatt Langford or Jacob Wilson or a Top 20 prospect like Max Clark or Walker Jenkins would’ve been nice, seeing the second-overall pick in Crews struggle makes missing out on at least one earlier pick a little more palatable for the Royals faithful – especially with a prospect like Mitchell in their system.

Royals’ slide down 2023 MLB Draft board looks better after Dylan Crews fails to make Nationals Opening Day roster

Given his parts of two seasons in the majors, paired with the top-tier draft and then subsequent prospect status he held, this move was a shocking one despite his poor showing in spring training this season.

This especially rings true when you consider the fact that the Nationals still don’t appear to be in a place to contend in the NL East this upcoming season.

However, from a sheer numbers perspective, their decision to option Crews makes plenty of sense, given he’s slashing just .103/.206/.103 with a -19 wRC+ in 34 spring training plate appearances. On top of that, his below-average 80 wRC+ and 77 wRC+ in 2024 and 2025 respectively, didn’t do him any favors in this case.

While Crews is trending downwards, his fellow draft-mate in Mitchell is seeing his stock rise this winter.

After a successful Arizona Fall League, in which he was named to the American League All-Star team, Mitchell has taken full advantage of the spring training opportunities he’s gotten with the Royals over the past few weeks.

After a 2025 season seemingly altered by a lengthy IL stint due to a broken hamate at the start of spring, Mitchell looks like he’s fully rebounded a year later. In 11 plate appearances in camp, Mitchell has posted a 1.030 OPS and 158 wRC+, even homering once.

Now, it’s still way too premature to definitively claim that Mitchell is going to be a better player than Crews. After all, there were many who likely saw Crews as a potential 1:1 guy on draft night three years ago.

And slow starts happen. While fellow 2023 draft picks in Skenes and Wilson may’ve already graced the Midsummer Classic with their presence, no two prospects are alike and everyone has their own path to the majors. Perhaps, Crews just needs more time in the minors to properly find his rhythm.

And Mitchell on the other hand has still yet to appear above High-A Quad Cities yet, so he still has plenty to prove in the upper minors.

That being said, what the baseball world has seen from Crews so far has not been encouraging in the slightest, so the doubts are just as legitimate as the belief.

While Royals fans may still be wondering, “what if we didn’t fall to eight on lottery night”, they’re likely feeling they didn’t miss out on someone like Crews on a day like today.