Washington Nationals Young Outfielder One of Best Building Blocks in Baseball
The Washington Nationals have done a wonderful job of stocking their farm system and now Major League roster with high-upside, young talent.
An impressive core has emerged at the highest level for the team’s foundation moving forward. This offseason, they have begun augmenting the roster around those players with an eye toward making a playoff push and coming out of their rebuild.
One of the players whom they will be relying on as a key contributor is left fielder James Wood.
He was one of several top prospects the team acquired from the San Diego Padres in the Juan Soto and Josh Bell blockbuster trade. All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams and ace starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore were also part of that deal and are now foundational pieces.
However, 2024 was the year of the towering outfielder, who measures 6’7” and 234 pounds, as he made his MLB debut on July 1 and never looked back.
Wood made an immediate impact, proving that he was not going to be overmatched by pitchers at the highest level. He turned 22 years old in September and is only scratching the surface of his potential, but his first impression was about as good of one that he could have made.
The every day job in left field immediately became his, as he made 79 appearances after his promotion. In 336 plate appearances, he recorded a strong .264/.354/.427 slash line with a 122 OPS+ and 124 Rbat+, both above league average.
He has a rare combination of power and speed despite his frame, hitting nine home runs with 14 stolen bases. His caught-stealing number of eight is certainly higher than you would like to see, but it is impressive a player of his size can move on the bases as fluidly as he does.
Wood is already a dynamic player at the plate, as he also had 13 doubles and four triples, showing the potential to be an extra-base hit machine.
Alas, his game is far from perfect, as he left a lot to be desired defensively. Given his athleticism and youth, he should be able to figure things out with the glove as he performed at a lower level in the Major Leagues than he had previously as a professional.
Despite the lack of glove work to this point, his rookie season was still a stellar one and he was recently recognized for his production by MLB and MLB Network.
They shared their list of the top 25 rookies of the 2024 season and Wood earned the No. 18 spot.
The top 25 rookies of 2024!
— MLB (@MLB) January 5, 2025
According to MLB Network: 🧵⬇️ pic.twitter.com/YxMx2dSjCH
He was the only Nationals player to make it for this past year, but they are hoping that more can be featured in 2025. Right fielder Dylan Crews, the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball, will have a full Spring Training to continue developing his game after making his debut on Aug. 26 but not having as impactful of a debut as Wood.
