Wil Crowe persevered; made MLB debut with Washington Nationals in 2020...

WASHINGTON – After making his pro debut in 2017, Wil Crowe bypassed low Single-A Hagerstown and he began the year at high Single-A Potomac in 2018.

The move turned out to be an astute one as the right-hander went 11-0, 2.69 in 16 games with 15 starts under pitching coach Sam Narron at Potomac.

Crowe, now 26, was a second-round pick out of the University of South Carolina by the Nationals in 2017. He went to high school in Tennessee.

“Wil had an injury in high school and college to get to where he was,” Narron told Federal Baseball last week from Instructional League in Florida.

Crowe was on the 60-player pool in Virginia this summer and then made his Major League debut on August 22 for the Nationals.

Overall he was 0-2 with an 11.88 ERA in three starts for the Nationals and pitching coach Paul Menhart, who was not retained.

Another pitcher under the charge of Narron for Potomac in 2018 was lefty Ben Braymer, 26, who also made his MLB debut this past season for Washington. He was 1-0, 1.23 in three games with one start.

“Anytime you get to do that is special,” said Narron, who was slated to be the Double-A Harrisburg pitching coach this past season.

“It doesn’t happen a lot. We have been able to have some quality arms in our organization who have helped our big league club.”

“For those two, it is great to see. They put in so much work and battled through so much stuff,” Narron said.

“Braymer was a bit of a later pick; you have a chip on your shoulder coming up” as a late selection.

Braymer was a 16^th round pick in 2018 out of Auburn by the Nationals.

“To see those guys go through the adversity they did at an early age and reach their end goal for them is special,” Narron said.

“You just hope moving forward next year they have a chance to make the big league club.”