The Nationals’ Late Bloomer Whose Name You Need to Know

The Washington Nationals entered the 2025 campaign widely expected to finish in the fourth- or even fifth-place spot in the National League East. Through their first 14 games, they are 6-8 and those expectations … haven’t changed much.

Just because they’re rebuilding doesn’t mean this team is devoid of talent, though. In fact, their core of young players is all arriving in the big leagues at the same time. So far, things have been looking promising as the youngins get their feet under them at the big league level.

To begin the season, James Wood, Jacob Young, and Dylan Crews were supposed to be the Nationals’ primary outfielders from the left to right. Wood and Crews are both absolute studs who will be stars for a long, long time, while Young is a defensive wizard who still has yet to reach his 26th birthday himself.

Wood’s doing what he does best and absolutely raking, while Young and Crews have fallen a bit short of expectations. This has opened the door wide open for 30-year-old Alex Call, who has taken his early opportunities and ran with them.

Stats taken before play on Sunday, April 13

Alex Call Is a Late Bloomer Worth Following

Everyone loves a story of a late bloomer, and Call falls squarely in this category. He was initially taken in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox but didn’t wind up making his big league debut until 2022 at the age of 27.

The outfielder was claimed from the Cleveland Guardians off of waivers by the Nationals after he made it into just 12 games in the AL Central. He hit well in the second-half of that season, struggled in 2023 when he was given a starting job, and has been a whole new hitter basically ever since.

After making it into just seven games through May 4, Call was optioned to Triple-A last year and didn’t surface in the big leagues again until the end of July. His season was tragically cut short after just 30 games, as he suffered a left plantar fascia tear while pursuing a pop-up in a game.

During his 30-game run, Call hit .343 with three home runs, 14 RBI, a .525 SLG, .950 OPS and 169 OPS+. He also brought his strikeout percentage down, and had the ninth-highest batting average in the game from the day he was promoted to the day his season ended. He had accumulated 1.5 bWAR in just a month’s worth of games.

Call’s late-season injury is what got Crews his own first look in the big leagues, so this string of events had some pretty big ramifications for the Nationals organization. The latter only wound up hitting .218 with a .641 OPS through his own 31-game cameo to round out the year.

Making the Nationals’ Outfield Picture Interesting

With the presence of Wood, Young, and Crews in the outfield, the obvious choice was for the Nationals to start the 2025 season with Call on-hand as the oft-used fourth outfielder. Obviously the at-bats weren’t supposed to be plentiful for him, as the three younger players above him on the depth chart were widely expected to soak up the playing time.

Yet, here we are. Call has made it into just nine games, but he’s picking up right where he left off last year. Not only is he keeping it up, but he’s getting even better. He has yet to hit a home run, but he’s got three extra-base hits, six RBI and is hitting .385 with a 1.052 OPS.

Oh, and he’s also walked nine times while striking out just twice. That’s some Luis Arraez stuff right there.

Dating back to July 29 of last year, Call finds himself near the top of league-wide leaderboards. Sure, he’s only got about half the games that the likes of Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and others have, but that doesn’t fully take away how impressive he’s been.

You’re reading that right. Call has the highest batting average in all of baseball dating back to the end of July. Yet he’s still not getting a whole lot of attention. He’s made it into exactly 39 games (he’s in the starting lineup on Sunday so make that 40) over that span while most others are closing in on 70, so the sample size will likely need to grow for him to gain some validity.

Stealing Playing Time

Call’s bat is getting harder to ignore, and the Nationals have been handing him quite a bit of playing time to open the year. Crews is getting more days off, and on Young’s days off, Crews shifts over to center while Call occupies right.

He also helps his case by being a competent defender all around the outfield. Big picture he profiles more as a corner outfielder, but Crews’ ability to play center helps everyone co-exist nicely.

To open the year, Call’s got 1 Defensive Run Saved and 1 Out Above Average under his belt through 59 innings in the field. The fact that he can hold his own in the outfield is going to ensure he gets regular playing time in this lineup. That batting average certainly won’t hurt either.

Closing Thoughts

The Wood-Young-Crews outfield for the Nationals is full of talent and potential, but Call is throwing his name into the ring on this team. He’s getting on base at ridiculous rates and has quietly been one of the best hitters in baseball dating back to the second half of last season.

We may not be looking at an All-Star, but Call is at the very least letting the industry know that his name is one to remember moving forward.