James Wood ran the count full in the first at-bat of Tuesday's game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. The tall, young outfielder then took the sixth pitch, a 94 mph fastball at the top of the zone on the outside corner from Mitch Keller, and clobbered it 445 feet to center field (112.6 mph off his bat) for a home run in the Nationals' 3-0 win.
"He's a good young player and just getting better and better each game," Washington general manager Mike Rizzo said during his weekly appearance on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
The homer was the 22-year-old's sixth of the year and gave him nine extra-base hits in his first 62 at-bats, for a .581 slugging percentage and .946 OPS.
Rizzo first saw him play in high school before Wood was the 62nd overall pick in the 2021 draft by San Diego, and the club scouted him pretty thoroughly when he was included, along with MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams, in the Juan Soto trade with the Padres.
"Got a great attitude and good skillset," Rizzo added. "Has a good chance to be a really good one for us."
Jake Irvin a 'warrior'
Wood's blast was all the run support Jake Irvin and the Nationals' bullpen needed. The 28-year-old starter pitched his best game of the season, allowing just three hits and a walk in seven spotless innings with six strikeouts.
"Gives you an opportunity to win almost each and every time out," Rizzo said of Irvin. "He's a big, strong, tough guy that's certainly not afraid of cold weather. [Tuesday] night's game was probably the nicest game he probably pitched in his high school career up there in Minnesota. He knows cold, he knows how to pitch in it, knows how to prepare for it.
"He's a warrior that gives you everything he has every night. Usually goes six innings per start."
Irvin needed just 87 pitches with 58 going for strikes over his seven frames. The curveball (40 percent), fastball (25 percent), and sinker (21 percent) were his big three pitches. The fastball was best with a 45 percent called-strike whiff rate.
"He had it going [Tuesday] night," Rizzo continued. "He had three pitches going and was attacking the zone. Threw a lot of strikes, got ahead of a lot of hitters and was able to put them away with either some soft contact or good play by the defense."
In the end, the GM called it a "good team win."
Paul DeJong to miss time
The win over Pittsburgh did include a scary moment when infielder Paul DeJong was hit in the face by a 92.7 mph four-seam fastball from the Pirates starter in the sixth inning. DeJong left the game and was sent for further testing. The ball left a gash on his nose under his left eye.
"I'm pretty sure he'll be ok," Rizzo said, but added, "I'm almost positive it will be an IL situation. That ball hit him pretty flush, and it was unfortunate, ugly incident that he took the brunt of it, the ball to his face pretty thoroughly.
"I just assume the eye will be closed and something, his nose, will be broken. So I would anticipate the injury list will be the next thing in order for him."
Rizzo expressed his prayers to DeJong, and "we're thinking about him."
"A cold night and a slick ball and that's the unfortunate part about baseball is things like that happen and I know the pitcher, Keller, felt terrible about it."
Who might get called up?
With DeJong headed for the shelf and Abrams still working his way back to full fitness after dealing with a hip ailment, Rizzo told The Junkies that Trey Lipscomb will "probably" be called-up for Wednesday's game to provide depth on the left side of the infield.
"I think that's the logical guy, he can play defense at four different infield positions and a right-handed bat, swinging it pretty good in Triple-A," Rizzo said.
Torpedo bat rage fizzling
"I think guys who hit bombs hit bombs with whatever bat they use," Rizzo said when asked for an update on the torpedo bats.
"We've got a project to really investigate what makes those bats so effective and if they're effective," the GM continued. "Several guys on the team have them and have been using them and have used them in the past, by the way. This bat didn't just come in the last three weeks; they've been around. I think that first [weekend] with the Yankees just brought it to the forefront and made it very popular."
Josiah Gray update
The right-hander is "well along his way in his return to throw program" as he recovers from Tommy John surgery in August, Rizzo said. "That's a 12 to 16 month recovery time, so we see what the calendar is and we don't expect him til towards the end of this baseball season."