Daylen

Lile

Lile’s two home runs give him five on the year. He hit a solo shot off Brady Singer in the fourth inning and a two-run shot off Luis Mey in the fifth inning. Lile hadn’t hit a home run since April 22 entering play Tuesday. He’s hitting .264 with 26 runs, 19 RBI and two stolen bases.

With the Nationals being shut down by Jacob Misiorowski and the Brewers’ bullpen in this one, Lile had one of their two total hits and their only one that went for extra bases. After a hot start to the season, Lile has cooled off considerably going just 3-for-26 over his last seven games.

After going 19 games without a homer to begin the season, Lile now has three in five games, pushing him up to .282/.333/.437 overall. It’d be nice if his elite speed made him a better basestealer — he’s 1-for-3 this year after going 8-for-14 as a rookie — but he’s thus far been useful in shallow leagues anyway.

It looks to be just a routine day of rest for the 23-year-old outfielder. Joey Wiemer will start in his place in the Nationals’ outfield and will bat sixth against Giants’ southpaw Robbie Ray on Sunday afternoon in Washington.

Lile doubled and singled twice. The 23-year-old somewhat quietly put together a strong 2025 campaign with an .845 OPS over 91 games, and while the sample is small, he’s backed it up to begin 2026 with a .409/.458/.545 slash over five games.

Lile came into today 0-for-12 with a walk and five strikeouts in five spring training games, but he did go 2-for-2 in an exhibition game against Venezuela. Everything is a super small sample size at this point in the season, but this was also Lile’s first hard-hit ball of the spring. The 23-year-old had a really nice rookie season last year, but his 2025 performance did come out of nowhere a bit after hitting .262/.347/.388 in 130 minor league games in 2024. He will be the starting left fielder to begin the season, but with James Wood, Dylan Crews, Jacob Young, and Robert Hassell III all MLB-ready as well, Lile will need to produce to hold onto his spot.

Lile is starting to gain traction as a popular fantasy sleeper this spring on the heels of a stellar rookie campaign in which he batted .299/.347/.498 with nine homers and eight steals across 351 plate appearances. The unheralded 23-year-old corner outfielder lacks a singular elite carrying tool, but he profiles as the type of player whose overall impact outweighs the sum of his individual tools — not flashy in one category, but quietly useful in almost all of them.

Horton enters as the heavy favorite after emerging as one of baseball’s most dominant pitchers in the second half, posting a dazzling 1.03 ERA across 61 1/3 innings over 12 starts. Baldwin would be a worthy choice in most years after cementing himself as Atlanta’s catcher of both the present and future during an impressive full-season debut, slugging 19 homers across 124 games. Durbin’s inclusion comes as a mild surprise over unheralded Nationals outfielder Daylen Lile, who posted an .845 OPS with 35 extra-base hits over 91 contests. Nationals center fielder Dylan Crews and Dodgers starer-turned-postseason closer Roki Sasaki entered the year as preseason favorites, but both missed most of the campaign due to injury. The winner will be announced on Monday, November 10.

Lile started the Nationals comeback with a two-run homer off Sean Burke in the fourth inning. After drawing a walk in the sixth, he knocked a base hit in the seventh for his second hit of the day. The 22-year-old outfielder has hit .302/.350/.503 with nine homers, 51 runs scored, 41 RBI, and eight steals across 348 plate appearances.

Lile has had a tremendous month of September to close out his rookie season. The 22-year-old is now hitting .298/.345/.492 with eight home runs, 39 RBI, and eight steals in 89 games. He’s played well enough that the Nationals may have to seriously consider starting him over former first-round pick Robert Hassell III when the 2026 season kicks off.