2020 Draft: Florida Prospect Dylan Crews Opts Out Of Draft

Image credit: Dylan Crews (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

High school outfielder Dylan Crews removed himself from the draft Tuesday, according to multiple sources and confirmed to Baseball America by Major League Baseball.

Crews is one of several notable Florida prospects to opt out of the shortened 2020 draft, including prep outfielder Brandon Fields—a South Carolina commit—and Florida State product Reese Albert. Fields and Albert were both top 200-caliber prospects, while Crews ranked No. 54 on the BA 500.

Crews is among the most prominent prospects to remove himself from the draft since lefthander Nate Savino, who enrolled early at Virginia and would have likely been a first round-caliber talent next week had he remained at Potomac Falls High in Sterling, Va.

Entering last summer, Crews was thought of as one of the top talents in the 2020 high school class thanks to an impressive righthanded bat and power to all fields. He ranked No. 2 on our initial list of the top high schoolers in the 2020 class and was ranked as high as No. 12 on Baseball America’s first combined list, which featured college and prep players.

 

A down summer that brought along some swing-and-miss concerns dipped Crews’ draft stock and likely contributed to his decision to opt out of the draft. Crews’ specific signing bonus requests are unknown, but he was expected to be a tough sign out of his Louisiana State commitment.

LSU is the big winner here, as Crews could easily return to form and become a dangerous bat in the middle of the Tigers’ lineup. He’ll look to re-establish his stock and become a first round pick in the 2023 draft. Crews is the second-highest ranked prospect among LSU commits in the 2020 class, with Texas backstop Drew Romo slightly edging him out at No. 39.

Below you can see Crews’ complete 2020 draft scouting report:

“Crews entered the 2020 draft cycle as one of the top hitting prospects in the prep class. As an underclassman he showed impressive power to all fields, to go with electric bat speed and a clean righthanded swing. After the first few weeks of the summer, however, Crews started to struggle, showing significant swing-and-miss and plate coverage concerns. Crews waved over breaking balls on the outer half of the zone and swung through fastballs middle and up that scouts expect the elite prep hitters to handle. At his best, Crews has shown above-average hitting ability with plus raw power, solid-average running ability and good defensive instincts in the outfield. He has a simple load and setup at the plate with some of the quickest hands in the class, and the ability to change games with a single swing. He also has above-average arm strength. Because Crews is more likely to be a corner outfielder at the next level, that puts additional pressure on his bat, and he simply didn’t hit up to the lofty expectations teams put on him over the summer. Teams are skeptical of right-right corner outfield profiles out of high school, and of the 13 players that fit that demographic who’ve gone in the first round since 2010, only two weren’t projected to be center fielders (Alex Jackson, who was drafted as an outfielder and Courtney Hawkins). Crews is committed to Louisiana State and is expected to be a difficult sign. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Crews make it to campus, get back to his typical self with the bat and become a first-round pick in three years.”