Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III are providing the Washington Nationals a spark

Daylen Lile and Robert Hassell III are still getting their feet wet, but their energy is giving the Nationals extra juice

Neither Daylen Lile or Robert Hassell III have put up eye popping numbers in their first tastes of big league action, but they are still providing a lot of value to the team. Their enthusiasm and energy is contagious. Both also have a knack for making their hits count.

Lile and Hassell are both very exciting on the defensive side of the ball. Just in this series against the D-Backs, both have made excellent defensive plays. Lile made an insane play the other night when he robbed Gabriel Moreno of a home run. There have been other occasions where Lile has made dramatic plays. He made a diving catch to close out a win over the Giants as well.

Hassell has looked excellent out in center field, especially with his arm. While Jacob Young is an outstanding defender, and has more range than Hassell, his arm is poor. Hassell has an absolute cannon out in center field and is making it known that you can’t run on him.

Both of these great plays were in the same game. These guys have brought real excitement with how they play the game. Both are great athletes who bring a lot of well rounded value. Neither has lit the world on fire at the plate, but they have both held their own.

Hassell has had some excellent at bats in his time with the team. The best one was a 10 pitch duel with veteran starter Merrill Kelly. He fouled off some very well executed pitches before finally getting a mistake pitch which he drove right up the middle to get two runs in. It looked like an at bat from a 10 year veteran.

Hassell still has some holes in his offensive game and doesn’t always make the right reads out in center, but he plays so hard and he is clutch. As he matures, hopefully some walks will come and he will cut down on the strikeouts a little bit. However, he is a live wire and leaves everything on the field.

Daylen Lile has really shown his pure hitting ability last night. In a lot of other parks, Lile would have had two homers last night. The double he hit would have been out in 28/30 ballparks, while his triple would have been gone in 20. Before last night, he had been hitting the ball on the ground too much, but he elevated yesterday. He was not a ground ball heavy hitter in the minors, so hopefully last night is a sign of things to come.

Mike Rizzo will have some interesting decisions to make when Jacob Young and Dylan Crews come back. What will he do with Alex Call? Does Young get to walk back into the lineup even with his subpar production? Which of these two guys will he demote? These are all questions he has to answer, and soon, especially in the case of Young.

Unless Lile really heats up, I can see them sending him down. He has not lit the world alight in the big leagues, even if he has had his moments. Lile has also only played 18 games at the Triple-A level, so I could see the Nats wanting to give him some more seasoning.

In that case, Robert Hassell is likely to see a lot of time in right field until Dylan Crews comes back. When Crews comes back, there is going to have to be a hard decision. The organization loves Jacob Young, but he has not shown a lot this year. His bat has taken a step back and while his defense is still very good, it is not at the all-world level it was last year.

Robert Hassell III and Daylen Lile have given the Nats a real spark in the outfield. The Nationals now have an embarrassment of riches in their outfield. However, all that depth means there is going to have to be some tough decisions.