WASHINGTON – James Wood could already stand eye-to-eye with the biggest, baddest dudes in Major League Baseball. Now, he’s developing a body of work to match them on the stat sheet.
At 6 feet, 7 inches, Wood is shoulder to shoulder with Aaron Judge and Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Oneil Cruz. He could probably post up the great Shohei Ohtani – a mere 6-foot-3 – if this group of sluggers ever got together, say, for a pickup basketball game.
No, size isn’t the be-all in baseball. Long levers and big swings can produce big problems: Challenges making contact, lengthy swings that can’t beat the ball to the spot, too many strikeouts that can short-circuit a lineup.
But as he approaches his one-year anniversary at the game’s highest level, Wood, 22, is developing a mastery of his swing, his plate approach and, increasingly, his outcomes.
All coming from a 234-pound frame that likely hasn’t reached full physical maturation.
“Baseball’s an interesting sport,” Wood tells USA TODAY Sports. “You got guys my height. And you got guys almost a foot shorter than me doing their thing in the big leagues.
“I think everything is super individual and you have to find things that work for you.”
Wood found those things much sooner than than his hard-hitting predecessors. Judge, likely on his way to a third American League MVP honor, did not make his major league debut until he was 24, and wasn’t a full-timer until 25; Ohtani was 23 before making the transition from Japan to two-way superstardom in the USA.
Cruz was 25 when he put together an injury-free and productive 2024 season, though his 21 homers were accompanied by 181 strikeouts.
Wood’s rapid assimilation more closely mirrors Giancarlo Stanton, the currently injured Yankee who owns six of the 10 hardest-hit home runs in the Statcast era; he hit 22 home runs in 100 games as a 20-year-old in 2010, and 34 a year later.
He’s a long way from Stanton’s 429 home runs. Yet it’s impossible to deny that Wood is just getting started.
‘He uses his levers perfectly’
Wood might be baseball’s greatest juxtaposition – a swing so violent, producing the game’s loudest noises off the bat, coming from one of the chillest dudes you’d ever hope to meet.
He strolls the field and clubhouse alike with an effortless nonchalance that belies his determination to be a total player, and not just a slugger.
“The thing I love most about him is the separation between hitting, fielding and baserunning,” says Nationals manager Dave Martinez. “He understands who he is. He understands what he needs to do. And all he wants to do is help us win.
“He talks a lot about being one of 26 guys, being part of his team. Which for a 22-year-old is pretty impressive.”
Wood had a nice half-season debut last year after his highly-anticipated arrival as the most tantalizing piece in the 2022 Juan Soto blockbuster deal. He hit nine home runs in 79 games, posted a 121 adjusted OPS and got on base at a .354 clip.
He has since improved on several rate stats, his strikeouts down from 28.9% to 26.4%, while his walks are up a bit from 11.6 to 13%. What Martinez finds most encouraging is the drop in his pull percentage – down 8 points to 20.8%.
Martinez knows the pull side power is there for Wood, and that an all-fields slugger will be a nightmare for opposing pitchers.
“I don’t want him to pull the ball,’ says Martinez. “I’ve often talked the first time I saw Juan Soto, he didn’t pull the ball. He hit everything up the middle, left center. He learned how to pull the ball.
“I think that’s gonna happen with James. I want him to continue doing what he’s doing.”
Martinez says he’s tempted to initiate conversations and provide counsel to Wood, but “I refrain, because I don’t want to put too much in his head. I just want him to go out and play the game and assess things as we go.”
And perhaps that’s the most striking thing about Wood within the Nationals orbit – the low maintenance despite the long limbs and moving parts.
“The taller you get, the harder it is to be coordinated playing this game. And he does an awesome job on both sides of the ball,” says Josh Bell, the Nationals’ 6-foot-3, 260-pound DH and first baseman. “I think he uses his levers perfectly. He’s not trying to pull the ball. He’s trying to use all fields.
“And that’s very dangerous, so it’s fun to watch.”
Growth mindset
For Wood, the major leagues continues to be a journey of discovery, an element he feels will never go away.
Wood grew up in Olney, Maryland, about an hour from Nationals Park, and eventually played two seasons at Florida’s IMG Academy before the Padres drafted him in the second round in 2021.
His mother, Paula, is part of a Black Baseball Moms Facebook group, which helps connect Black players and families throughout the game. Father Kenny is a member of the University of Richmond’s hall of fame for his basketball exploits.
Wood’s locker stall is next to second baseman Luis Garcia Jr., who was born in New York but raised in the Dominican Republic. Wood has learned a lot from their frequent chats, and appreciates the endless paths his teammates have taken to the big leagues.
“It’s important to just be yourself, really,” he says. “Lucky to be in a locker room full of a bunch of different personalities. Guys from all over the country, different countries, different continents.
“It’s just a cool dynamic and I think that’s what makes things interesting: Everyone being their own person creates a cool dynamic.”
The core the Nationals are developing is pretty cool, too. Shortstop CJ Abrams, who came over with Wood in the Soto trade, is already an All-Star, and another part of that deal, lefty MacKenzie Gore, might earn that nod this year, too.
While outfielder Dylan Crews, 23 and the second overall pick in 2023, has struggled at the plate in his first full season, he’s shown the flashes of elite power, speed and defense that will make him a daunting outfield mate with Wood for years.
Wood, Crews says, “is like a young kid but doesn’t carry himself like that.” Yet for as precocious as he is now, Wood doesn’t place a ceiling on his growth – even if he’s topped out at 6-foot-7, plenty big to impact the game like few others can.
“It’s like life,” he says. “Someone told me that a few years ago: This game is the greatest teacher of life. Once you stop playing this game, your life goes on and you gotta keep learning, too.
“You can never stop learning, never stop growing.”