LSU’s Dylan Crews off to a historic start in 2023

Dylan Crews is off to a historic start.

Entering this college baseball season, LSU outfielder Dylan Crews already had his name associated with the first overall pick in this summer’s MLB draft. However, since the start of the collegiate baseball season in February, Crews has only helped his stock, putting together one of the greatest starts to a collegiate season that we’ve ever seen.

Now, the MLB draft is a bit different in the fact that the best player isn’t always selected first overall nor is it always by positional need. Signing bonuses, collegiate commitments for high school prospects, and more go into the decisions.

With that being said, despite the season Crews has put together thus far, by no means does that mean he is a lock at the moment for the first overall pick – especially with the Pittsburgh Pirates, an especially penny-pinching ran franchise holding the first overall pick.

Whether Crews ends up in Pittsburgh or elsewhere, it’s clear that whoever drafts him will be receiving a potential franchise changing talent. Let’s take a look at what he’s done this season so far.

In 26 games this season, Crews is hitting .529/.653/.954 with nine home runs and 32 RBI across 87 at-bats. He’s also walked 27 times this season while striking out just 12 times. In his 118 plate appearances this season, he’s reached base as noted above, 65.3% of time time. The next closest on-base percentage across the country is Florida Atlantic’s Nolan Schanuel at .600.

His .542 batting average leads the country by 63 points, with Grand Canyon’s Jacob Wilson holding the second highest in the country at .479. The separation between Crews and Wilson, is the same amount of points that separates the second place Wilson from those tied for 41st in the country at .416.

Despite hitting just nine home runs this season which is tied for 36th in the country, he still leads the country in slugging percentage thanks to 10 doubles. In his 83 at-bats this season, he has collected 82 total bases. Only one other player in the country has a slugging percentage above .950, that being Florida utility man Jac Caglianone who has 102 total bases in 105 at-bats, a .971 slugging percentage.

With LSU’s season nearly halfway through, we have a good idea of what Crews’ numbers could look like if he holds pace for the remaining 30 games of his season. Which in itself would be an incredible feat but for the sake of the exercise, let’s say he does. In that instance he would finish with the same line of .529/.653/.954 with 19 home runs, 69 RBI, six stolen bases, 58 walks to 26 strikeouts.

For comparisons – here’s how Crews’ season would compare to two of the best seasons we’ve seen since 2000 out of future top five selections in their draft year.

Rickie Weeks – Southern (2003): 

Weeks holds the NCAA record for career slugging percentage at .927 in large part thanks to his wonderful junior season. That year in just 50 games, Weeks hit .500/.619/.987 with 16 home runs and 67 RBI. This is probably the season most comparable to that of Crews’ current season. The Milwaukee Brewers would draft him second overall in the 2003 MLB draft.

Buster Posey – Florida State (2008): 

The three-time World Series champion was ridiculously good for the Seminoles in 2008, hitting .463/.566/.879 with 26 home runs and 93 RBI. Now, while Crews likely won’t get to the 26 home runs and hasn’t had the runners in scoring position opportunities to take advantage of, it’s hard to see him getting to the 93 RBI mark either. That being said, a look at Posey’s stat line shows you just how good of a season Crews is having. Despite being on pace for seven fewer home runs, Crews still has a higher slugging percentage than Posey’s by nearly 100 points. His batting average is also higher by nearly 70 points and his on base percentage by nearly 90 points. Posey would go onto be drafted fifth overall in the 2008 MLB draft by the San Francisco Giants.

The 2023 MLB Draft is scheduled for July 17 through July 19 in Los Angeles, California.