Daylen Lile is the best hitter on the Washington Nationals

Daylen Lile is blossoming into a star before our eyes and it is so much fun to watch. The kid with the beautiful swing has been the hottest hitter in all of baseball this September. It has been a difficult season for the Washington Nationals, but they have found a new piece of their core. Daylen Lile is the best hitter on the Washington Nationals right now.

This month, Lile’s production has been out of this world. He is hitting .423 with a 1.319 OPS. Lile has been an extra base hit machine, with 2 doubles, 3 homers and an astounding 5 triples. At a certain point, you run out of adjectives to describe how good he is.

The thing I love most about Daylen Lile is how smart of a hitter he is. Every time he comes to the plate, there is a plan. He has an idea of how to attack every pitch. Against pitches on the outside part of the plate, Lile is a contact machine. He is happy to slap singles the other way all day long.

When you look at the zones, you can see that Lile has a very high batting average against pitches down and away. He does not do a ton of damage on those pitches, but pitchers eventually get tired of Lile wearing them out the other way.

However, Daylen Lile wants you to test him on the inside part of the plate because that is where his power is. All six of Lile’s home runs have come against pitches on the inner third of the plate. His quick hands just explode to the ball and he can pull homers on those inside pitches. That is exactly what he did last night against a Spencer Strider fastball.

This approach reminds me a lot of what Daniel Murphy used to do when he was on the Nats. Murphy would slap singles the other way all day long against outside pitches, but when you challenged him inside, he could make you pay.

A big part of this approach comes down to the ability to pull the ball in the air. Lile does that at a high level. His 20.9% air pull rate is well above average and is one of the best marks on the team. Those pulled flyballs lead to hits and a lot of extra base hits. It is why Lile has a higher slugging percentage than James Wood despite having far less natural power.

Since he has come to the big leagues, Daylen Lile has been the Nationals best hitter. He does things very differently from James Wood, but his hitting IQ and contact ability are so special. Those skills have made him one of the best hitters in baseball over the last 30 games.

His strikeout rate is just about half of what Wood’s is at just 16.1%. That, along with his ability to hit the ball where he wants makes Lile a high average hitter. At just 22 years old, the former second round pick is hitting .292. His expected batting average is even higher, at an elite .308. Lile’s OPS is also up to .814 after this insane heater.

For so long, Nationals fans have been waiting for one of the team’s draft picks to turn into a star player. It looks like we have found our man with Daylen Lile. For years, Lile was overshadowed by more hyped prospects, but he has become better than them all.

It is also worth remembering just how young he is as well. This is not some older rookie having some sort of fluky breakout. Lile is a 22 year old who still has so much room to grow. He really has a chance to become a Daniel Murphy or Michael Brantley type of hitter. The elite contact hitter who has enough power to make pitchers pay when they challenge him inside.

On the offensive side of the ball, Lile might be the safest projection out of all Nats players. James Wood’s elite raw power gives him a higher ceiling, but all of his strikeouts come with some risk. He needs to show that his first half performance is who he really is. On the other hand, Lile is ascending and seems to be getting better with every game.

To truly become a star, Lile needs to sort out his defense though. Right now, he is a bit of a mess on that side of the ball. It is why he only has 0.9 fWAR despite possessing a well above average 125 wRC+. Lile has -8 fielding run value this season, which is very poor.

I actually think Lile hasn’t been as noticeably poor in the outfield the last month or two, but it is still not great. His reads are poor, he is slow picking up balls in the corner and his arm is below average due to a Tommy John Surgery. For next season, I would consider playing Lile in left field, Dylan Crews in center and James Wood in right field, due to Lile’s lack of arm strength.

Lile has the athleticism to be a solid defender. His sprint speed is in the 91st percentile. You can see how natural of an athlete he is when he is running the bases. However, he looks a bit clunky in this field. This offseason, Lile needs to focus on getting that defense up to standard. If he is even an average defender, that would go a long way in bringing his WAR numbers up.

However, the bat will always be the star of the show with Lile. Watching him swing is just a joy to watch. His swing is both simple and beautiful. It is how every kid should try to hit. When I was on an MLB field in my dreams, my swing looked something like that.

That gorgeous swing and Lile’s natural understanding of how to hit will take him a long way. Before the season, Daylen Lile was a wildcard. Maybe he could be something, but he was not a part of the core yet.

Now he is, and he has been the Nationals best player in the second half. I would argue that he is the best hitter on the team. You just can’t teach the kind of stuff he does because it takes insane hand-eye coordination. I am so excited to watch Daylen Lile hit in a Nationals uniform for years to come.

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