Dylan Crews says ‘it’s huge’ to end the season strong amid trying year. His Monday homer helps.

SAN DIEGO — If Dylan Crews felt good after his two-double performance Saturday, one could only imagine the elation he felt after hammering a two-run bomb Monday.

The Nationals outfielder continued his recent surge with a clutch ninth-inning single against All-Star closer Mason Miller.

Major league hitters tout the importance of adhering to their training regimen and trying not to live and die by the results. That’s understandable, but baseball is a results-oriented game.

Sustaining his productivity at the plate has been Crews’ Achilles’ heel, but maybe his two-hit performance in Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Padres could be a jumping-off point for him as the season nears its conclusion.

What made him happier? The homer or the process in the at-bat — getting ahead 3-1 in the count and fouling off two pitches before hammering a fastball to the upper deck at Petco Park?

“Definitely the process,” Crews said. “I don’t think I get into that count, or that situation, if I don’t take some of those pitches. Probably in the past I’ll end up swinging at that, but I think right now just focusing on getting a good pitch and doing damage on those.”

Crews has had positive moments before the past two games. There was the walk-off against the Marlins on Aug. 29. There was the Phillies series in June, when he recorded seven hits over a four-game set. But turning moments into stretches of standout play has eluded Crews.

He’s a plus baserunner and a strong defender, capable of manning all three outfield spots. But he was drafted No. 2 in 2023 to be a threat in the lineup. An actualized version of Crews is a hitter who can control the zone while supplying solid power.

In a season full of stops and starts, Crews is running out of time to prove to the front office that they should make him a fixture in their long-term plans.

Manager Blake Butera said it’s important that Crews see some balls find grass because it backs up Crews’ conviction in his approach at the plate.

“When you have this big of a sample size and this big of a body of work, I think you can tell somebody, ‘Hey, process is great, underlying stuff’s great,’ all that. But at the end of the day, you want to look up at the scoreboard and see some positive results,” Butera said.

Crews delivered a key two-out RBI double Saturday that put the Nationals in front in a game they ultimately lost to the Dodgers. He recorded another double in the seventh that drove starter Tyler Glasnow out of the game.

“It’s huge,” Crews told The Banner about finishing the season strong. “I mean, not just for me, but for all of us. We want to build off this last month and carry on to next year, so I think everybody’s on the same page with that, and we got some good momentum going on right now.”

Consistently sticking to his plan will help Crews. When he’s able to key in on a few specific pitches, it makes him a markedly better hitter. Butera said recently that Crews is at his best when he’s able to “shut it down on pitches that are outside of that tunnel or location.”

After struggling immensely in spring training and being sent to Triple-A Rochester, Crews worked on his game out of the spotlight of the majors. He focused on pulling the ball in the air more consistently by standing more upright at the plate.

Though he’s pulling the ball in the air more, it’s not leading to improved numbers. He’s recording more weak contact with fewer barreled balls per game than last season. He has solid exit velocities and hard-hit rates, but the peripheral numbers haven’t translated to the box score.

His high rates of chasing pitches out of the zone (32.3%) and striking out (25.1%) are concerning for Crews, given that he doesn’t provide overwhelming power or draw many walks.

To remedy his woes, Crews has been in constant communication with the hitting staff before games, after games — like last Friday against the Marlins, when he and hitting coach Matt Borgschulte were deep in conversation at his locker — and during games. Communication throughout the game about how pitchers are attacking him is paramount to getting him back on track.

Sustaining the highs would go a long way toward improving Crews’ productivity, particularly as the club evaluates the roster heading into next season.

“I think it’s really important for that,” Butera said Sunday. “I think it’s really important [on] the other side too, for these guys to experience what it feels like to be here.”

As the organization learned with Curtis Mead, development isn’t linear. They’ve poured resources into helping Crews maximize the potential that made him a top prospect, and it hasn’t clicked yet. Truthfully, it might not click in D.C. But for an organization reluctant to spend, maximizing Crews’ talents is worth the effort. Crews has trusted his process all season, and now he’s starting to see more consistent production.

“It’s just a grind,” he said. “You’re out here every day, [so] you can’t focus so much on the results, especially this game, because you’re failing seven out of 10 times. You got to find a backbone on something. And for me, it’s my process.”