Jacob Young DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

Washington Nationals outfielder Jacob Young and third baseman Jose Tena will start on the bench for Thursday's contest against the visiting Baltimore Orioles at Nationals Park. Dylan Crews is starting in center field and will bat eighth, Alex Call is in right field and in the two-hole, and Amed Rosario is starting at third base and batting sixth versus Orioles left-hander Cade Povich. Young went 0-for-3 on Wednesday to snap a three-game hitting streak and is hitting just .220 (11-for-50) with no homers, one RBI, two steals and six runs scored as a platoon outfielder in D.C. Tena has hits in both of his at-bats against lefties this year with two RBI, but the left-handed hitter will take a seat in favor of Rosario. Although Call has yet to clear the fences in 42 at-bats in 2025, he'll be the better DFS sleeper play in the second spot. The 30-year-old is hitting .310 (13-for-42) with eight RBI and seven runs scored.

Washington Nationals outfielder Jacob Young is out of the lineup again on Sunday against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks at Nationals Park. Dylan Crews will slide over to center field again and hit ninth, while Alex Call is making another start in right field and will bat seventh against Arizona right-hander Corbin Burnes. The Nationals have held Young out of the lineup the last two days while he works to clean up his hitting mechanics after starting the 2025 season with a .067/.263/.133 slash line with a double, two runs scored, a stolen base, three walks and two strikeouts in his first seven games. Manager Dave Martinez said that the 25-year-old will return to the starting lineup for Monday's series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but fantasy managers in deeper leagues may want to keep him benched until he shows signs of breaking out of his early-season slump.

Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz and outfielder Jacob Young are both resting on Saturday against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks at Nationals Park. Riley Adams will do the catching for left-hander Mitchell Parker and will bat ninth, while Alex Call will start in right field and bat sixth against D-backs left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez. Dylan Crews is sliding from right field to center. Ruiz entered Friday's lost to Arizona riding a six-game hitting streak to begin the year but had it snapped when he went 0-for-4 . The 26-year-old Venezuelan has gone 8-for-25 in the early going with two homers, five RBI and four runs scored. Young, meanwhile, has struggled with just one hit in 15 at-bats in his first six games of the year. Adams is hitless in just one career at-bat against E-Rod, while Call has never faced him in his career.