'Sky is the Limit' for Washington Nationals Young Slugger Throughout His Career

There are a lot of reasons for Washington Nationals fans and the organization to be excited about the future.

While a 73-win campaign in 2024 may be disappointing from a win-loss perspective, there was a lot of positives to take from their performance, namely the emergence of an incredibly talented young core.

At the forefront of that foundation is left fielder James Wood, who made his MLB debut on July 1, 2024.

A second round pick in the 2021 MLB draft out of IMG Academy by the San Diego Padres, he steadily moved his way up the prospect rankings. Barely a year after being selected, he was part of the package heading back to the Nationals in exchange for Juan Soto in the blockbuster trade.

His outlook continued to improve upon landing with Washington, as he reached as high as No. 3 on the MLB Prospect Pipeline in 2024 before making his debut with the big league squad.

Wood had a really solid debut. He played in 79 games as the everyday left fielder.

He recorded a .264/.354/.427 slash line, showcasing his rare blend of imposing size and athleticism with 13 doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 14 stolen bases.

The most impressive part about his debut was how quickly he was able to adjust his game on the fly.

Making hard contact was not an issue for him; he had a 52.3% hard-hit rate and average exit velocity of 92.8 mph, well above the league average numbers of 39.0% and 88.3 mph.

Where he struggled was keeping the ball off the ground and adjusting to the pitching at the Major League level.

He was striking out at a 36.4% clip through his first 21 games with an ugly .560 OPS, consistently pounding the ball into the ground with a 64.6% ground ball rate. His prodigious power wasn’t being put on display either as he was pulling the ball only 22.9% of the time.

However, something clicked after that when he turned things around down the stretch.

That is why Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com has selected Wood as one of his breakout candidates for 2025 who can build on a small sample size from the previous year.

“Over his final 58 games, Wood made dramatic improvements in all three of those departments and also bumped his walk rate to 12.9%, leading to a .288/.383/.479 slash in that span. Still just 22 years old, the sky is the limit for Wood in 2025.”

His potential is immense and it is clear he has the acumen and baseball IQ to work through issues to avoid long-term slumps. A player of his size will have some holes in their swing, but it will be made up for when he launches a 440-foot home run with the flick of a wrist.

Where the Nationals would love to see him take that next step is as a defender.

He was not good at playing left field, which was a bit of a surprise given how athletic he is.

That needs to change, and should with more reps, but his bat is what will do the talking for him during his career.