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Daylen Lile

Nationals Select Daylen Lile

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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.

NL East Notes: Braves, Lile, McNeil, Garrett, Rogers

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Because Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc., is a publicly-traded company, their obligatory financial reports provide an annual peek into the Braves’ business dealings, and Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution shared the details of the company’s disclosure earlier this week.  ABH Inc. reported $641MM in revenue in 2023 from the Braves and the associated ballpark village next to Truist Park known as The Battery Atlanta — this figure represents a sizable jump from the $589MM in revenues from 20222.  Between Truist Park’s opening in 2017 and the success of the Battery as an attraction outside of just Braves gamedays, the Braves have seen revenues soar from $262MM in 2016 to last year’s $641MM number, with only a dip in 2020 due to the pandemic.

However, ABH Inc. still reported an overall operating loss of $46MM for 2023.  As per the team statement, baseball-related operating costs “increased primarily due to higher player salaries, including offseason trade activity in the fourth quarter, as well as increases under MLB’s revenue sharing plan.”  The operating profit for 2023 stood at $38MM, but dropped into the red due to $13MM drops for stock-based compensation and $71MM in depreciation and amortization.  (Tucker notes that “large deductions for depreciation and amortization are believed to be common for MLB teams.”)

The revenue increase has gone hand-in-hand with a big increase in the Braves’ payroll, as Atlanta is set to far exceed its club-record $205MM payroll from 2023.  The Braves are currently projected (as per RosterResource) for a payroll close to $228MM and a luxury tax number of $270MM.  After paying into the tax for the first time last season, the Braves have now gone well beyond the initial CBT threshold, as their projected $270.3MM tax number is now approaching the third penalization tier of $277MM.  The front office’s aggressive strategy of locking up star players to extensions has both increased spending but also built a powerhouse team that is expected to again contend for a World Series title.

Some more items from around the NL East…

  • Nationals outfield prospect Daylen Lile was stretchered off the field in a scary incident in today’s Spring Training game.  While attempting to catch a home run, Lile went over the right field fence and took a bad landing, drawing immediate calls for medical attention from Red Sox pitchers in the bullpen.  Lile reportedly gave a thumbs up while being removed from the field, according to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post.  A second-round pick in the 2021 draft, the 21-year-old Lile missed all of the 2022 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, and is ranked by Baseball America as the 11th-best prospect in Washington’s farm system. [UPDATE: Manager Davey Martinez told Janes and other reporters that Lile will undergo a CAT scan.  Lile apparently landed hard on his lower back after his fall, but was able to move his feet.]
  • Jeff McNeil is dealing with some left biceps soreness and won’t hit for a few days, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters (including Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post).  McNeil is still able to participate in fielding drills since he throws with his right arm, though his left arm continues to be a concern given how McNeil has a partially torn left UCL.  The thought was that McNeil would be fine after an offseason of recovery rather than surgery, and a biceps issue doesn’t necessarily hint at any further UCL damage.  The former NL batting champion and two-time All-Star is looking to bounce back from an underwhelming .270/.333/.378 slash line over 648 plate appearances in 2023.
  • Marlins manager Skip Schumaker provided media (including the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson and MLB.com) with some updates on starters Braxton Garrett and Trevor Rogers.  Garrett has been dealing with soreness in his left shoulder for a couple of weeks but has been throwing bullpen sessions and is on “normal progression now” towards throwing a live batting practice, Schumaker said.  Rogers is tentatively scheduled to make his Grapefruit League debut in a 20-pitch outing on Tuesday, as the Marlins have been building him slowly in camp in the aftermath of an injury-riddled 2023 season.  Rogers threw a live batting practice session on Thursday that left Schumaker impressed, as the southpaw “was throwing 93-94 mph in a setting with not much adrenaline.”
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