Washington Nationals Young Star Named As Major Breakout Candidate Next Season

The Washington Nationals have a serious breakout candidate ready to become a household name this season.
James A. Pittman-Imagn Images
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The Washington Nationals are going to be led next season by one of the youngest cores in all of baseball, and while there have been some growing pains, there's a few who have already established themselves as key pieces to contend in the future.

One of those who gets somewhat underrated due to excitement about guys like Dylan Crews, CJ Abrams, and MacKenzie Gore is another top prospect who might just be the team's best player next year.

Formerly one of the top prospects in all of baseball, left fielder James Wood made his debut for the Nationals at the beginning of July and did not experience any notable setbacks in his adjustment to Major League Baseball.

In an article trying to predict who the breakout stars of the 2025 season could be, David Adler of MLB.com named Wood to his list and compared his game to that of Cincinnati Reds electrifying infielder Elly De La Cruz.

"Woods has the skill set to break out in a big way," Adler wrote. "The 6-foot-7 slugger has the raw power -- of the 343 players with at least 150 batted balls last year, Wood ranked inside the top 20 in average exit velocity (92.8 mph) and hard-hit rate (52%). And he has the raw speed ... he was one of 34 players to reach the elite speed threshold of 30 ft/sec on at least 20 individual runs. If Wood taps into those tools in 2025 -- which we think he will -- he could be a 20-20 player easily, and maybe a 30-30 player."

Wood played 79 games after making his debut and was already responsible for a 1.1 WAR in just 336 plate appearances.

In that small sample size, he did not display any issues at the plate in the transition to big league pitching, hitting nine home runs with 41 RBI, a .264 batting average, an OPS of .781, and an OPS+ of 122.

Equally as impressive was his prowess on the base paths with 14 stolen bases.

It's not a surprise to see Wood excelling with Washington, but it has raised eyebrows to see him make a major impact this quickly and seemingly have no issues picking up right where he left off in the minor leagues. He has certainly already established himself as a building block of what has been a long and painful rebuild in the five years since winning a World Series in 2019.

Having four last place finishes in those five years and no playoff appearances, Nationals fans are starved to see a winner once again.

With young stars like Wood, who look ready to take the next step into superstardom, establishing a winner could happen sooner rather than later.


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