Washington Nationals’ 2021 2nd Round pick Daylen Lile makes solid debut

WASHINGTON - Cade Cavalli leads young arms in the Nationals’ system who has attracted attention.

And Darren Baker and Jake Boone are infielders at Single-A who are the sons of former Major League players.

Meanwhile, outfielder Daylen Lile, 18, has drawn attention from a long-time instructor in the Washington system while playing in Florida.

“Daylen is a very good outfielder,” Jeff Garber told Federal Baseball last week about the Louisville high school product, who was the second-round pick of the Nationals in this year’s draft.

“He has been DHing since he had a sore arm early on. He is a very exciting player; to me he is an impact player.”

Garber and Fairfax native Tommy Shields, a former infielder with the Orioles and Cubs, were co-field coordinators in the Washington system through 2019.

This year, Shields is the manager of Single-A Wilmington while Garber has been aiding rookie manager Jake Lowery in the Florida Complex League.

Lile hit .233 in his first 43 pro-bats in Florida with nine RBIs on just 10 hits, with two steals.

“He has a chance to impact every play with his speed,” Garber said. “He is a very exciting player.”

The hitting coach under Lowery in Florida is Mark Harris, a native of Virginia who is a former minor league with the Yankees. Harris has lived in Northern Virginia for several years.

Lile doesn’t turn 19 until November. He was 1-for-3 and drove in a run on Saturday against the Mets.

That gave him at least one RBI in three straight games, including three against the Astros on Sept. 1.