The Morning Briefing: August 26

Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, August 26.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing!

Leading this Morning's Briefing: They're not booing, they're saying "Creeeewwwwws"

Alex Call's plantar fascia injury on Friday evening did not accelerate the debut timeline for Dylan Crews, who will take the field for the first time tonight in front of what is sure to be a good crowd, what with the Yankees and Juan Soto playing as well. No, instead the Nats recalled catcher Drew Millas to take Call's spot on the active roster, first reported by The Nats Report (thank you for the acknowledgment, MLB Trade Rumors!). I imagine Davey Martinez will do his standard thing whereby any debuting rookie hits sixth or lower in the lineup, but I am hopeful that by Labor Day Crews is sandwiched between CJ Abrams (who mostly looks lost right now) and James Wood.

Last Game Out

DJ Herz pitched five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts, and the Nats managed to salvage the series finale 5-1 in Atlanta, guaranteeing them a season series win over the Barves (they are 7-4 with two games remaining). It took until the seventh inning of this game for someone other than José Tena or Andrés Chaparro to drive in a run for Washington, when Jacob Young doubled home Millas to make the score 3-1. Eduardo Salazar gave the Nats five quality outs in the seventh and eighth innings, and could be making a case to be the new right-handed setup man.

Nationals Headline of the Day

Check out Kyle Richardson's column about Crewsday and the Nationals' top prospect over at Yahoo! Sports. While I don't know that Crews' ceiling is as high as Wood's or even Brady House's, I do think his floor is exceptionally high, and he should be a very good major league player for a long time.

Down on the Farm

The Fredericksburg Nationals got a Sunday primetime slot against the Columbia Fireflies yesterday evening, and lo and behold who should be the starting pitcher for that game but newly minted top-100 prospect Travis Sykora, who threw five innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts on just 67 pitches. This season has been the best I can remember from an organization-wide standpoint.

Featured Baseball Story of the Day

After a pair of bombs yesterday, Aaron Judge is now on pace to break his own American League home run record of 62, writes Bryan Hoch of MLB.com

Former National of the Day

Let's remind Juan Soto of just how beloved he is this week while the Yankees are in town. He's going to see the promise of some of the Nats' young players, the Nats are actually in a position to outbid the Yankees (?!?!?) if they want to, and he would mean more to this organization than to any other he might join in free agency. If you're going to the yard for this today, remember:

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