Nationals Select Daylen Lile

The Nationals have selected the contract of outfield prospect Daylen Lile, the team announced Friday. He’ll join the major league roster and take the place of center fielder Jacob Young, who’s being placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. The Nats already had a 40-man vacancy, so Young’s placement on the IL is the only move needed to get Lile to the majors. Washington’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.

Lile is the second young outfielder summoned to make his MLB debut in as many days, joining prospect Robert Hassell III in that regard. Young, meanwhile, is the second outfield starter for the Nats to land on the injured list in as many days. Dylan Crews landed on the IL yesterday due to an oblique strain.

The 22-year-old Lile has torn the cover off the ball in the minors this season, opening the year with a .319/.340/.505 slash (144 wRC+) in his second stint at Double-A before his first promotion to Triple-A, where he’s slashed .361/.432/.514 (157 wRC+) in 18 games and 82 plate appearances.

The Nationals selected Lile out of Louisville’s Trinity High School with their second-round pick in 2021. He missed the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery but has come back with strong offensive numbers and put himself into the team’s top prospects at MLB.com (9) and at Baseball America (10). His bat-to-ball skills and speed draw consistent praise, though like Hassell, Lile is considered a hit-over-power player in the batter’s box. Baseball America’s scouting report makes special note of how Nationals staffers think Lile is an 80-grade worker with outstanding makeup and clubhouse presence.

Lile swiped 25 bags in 30 tries between High-A and Double-A as a 21-year-old last year. He’s 9-for-12 to start the 2025 campaign. That vaunted hit tool has been on full display as well. After fanning at an already relatively low 17.6% rate against older and more experienced competition in ’24, he’s down to a 13.1% strikeout rate in ’25. He’s only walked in 6.8% of his plate appearances this season, although it’s worth noting that he barely walked at all in Double-A before drawing nine bases on balls in his 82 Triple-A plate appearances (11%). He’s walked in 10.4% of his 1281 professional plate appearances overall.

Lile will now get his first crack at trying to carve out a role in a crowded Nationals outfield. James Wood has entrenched himself and is breaking out as one of the game’s top young sluggers. Young is one of the game’s best defenders in center. Crews struggled early this season but had been swinging considerably better of late; he’s also a former No. 2 overall draft pick who entered the 2025 season considered to be among MLB’s five to ten best prospects. The organization views him as a cornerstone piece. Hassell has a similar profile to Lile but is considered a better defender. Righty-swinging Alex Call has predictably cooled off after a torrid start that was fueled by a BABIP north of .400, but he has a solid track record versus lefties.

Of course, it’s hardly a bad thing for the Nationals to have more potentially high-quality outfield options than spots to play them. It provides depth in the case of injuries (like the ones they’re currently facing), creates opportunities to rotate several players through the DH spot, and could eventually give them some ammunition in trade talks with outfield-needy clubs around the league.