Standouts from across the Washington Nationals Minor League system will be recognized as part of a special pregame ceremony on Tuesday, as the club recognizes its 2024 Minor League Award winners. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo and Vice President and Assistant General Manager, Player Development & Administration Eddie Longosz selected the following players in recognition of their outstanding 2024 seasons.
- Hitter of the Year – Outfielder Dylan Crews
- Pitcher of the Year – Right-handed pitcher Travis Sykora
- Defensive Player of the Year – Outfielder Elijah Green
- Baserunner of the Year – Infielder/Outfielder Darren Baker
- Nationals Way Award – Outfielder Daylen Lile and Right-handed pitcher Brad Lord
Crews, 22, is currently the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLBPipeline.com and the No. 3 prospect, according to Baseball America. He ranked in Washington’s Minor League system in extra-base hits (2nd, 40), triples (2nd, 6), slugging percentage (3rd, .451), OPS (3rd, .793), RBI (3rd, 68), doubles (T3rd, 21), home runs (4th, 13), average (4th, .270) and stolen bases (T4th, 25) prior to his Major League call-up on Aug. 26. For his efforts in the first half of the season, Crews was selected to represent the Nationals in the 2024 All-Star Futures Game in July.
Crews finished his 2024 Minor League campaign hitting .270 with 21 doubles, six triples, 13 home runs, 68 RBI, 36 walks, 25 stolen bases and 60 runs scored in 100 games between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester. Crews hit .309 (21-for-68) with a .385 on-base percentage (5 BB, 4 HBP) and a .529 slugging percentage (2B, 3B, 4 HR) in 16 games from Aug. 3-Aug. 23 before joining Washington. He reached base safely in all 16 of those games and hit safely in 13 of the 16.
Crews was the second overall pick in the 2023 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Louisiana State University, where he made his mark as one of the most accomplished and decorated players in the history of college baseball. In addition to leading LSU to the 2023 National Championship, he was a consensus First-Team All-American in 2023 and 2022 and became the first player to win Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in back-to-back-seasons (2022, 2023).
Sykora, 20, was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Year after going 5-3 with a 2.33 ERA, 129 strikeouts and 27 walks in 85.0 innings across 20 starts for Single-A Fredericksburg in his first professional season. From his debut on May 1 through the end of the season, Sykora led all Minor League pitchers (min. 85.0 IP) with a .168 opponent’s batting average and 5.29 hits per 9.0 innings, while he ranked among them in strikeouts per 9.0 innings (2nd, 13.66) and WHIP (3rd, 0.91). His 129 strikeouts paced all of Single-A and ranked fourth among Nationals Minor Leaguers, despite his later start.