Tobi Altizer said this week that it’s an absolute pleasure to see James Wood launching nukes for his baseball team…and now, the world will get to see it happen.
Wood was announced Thursday as the third confirmed participant in the 2025 All-Star Home Run Derby, to be held on July 14 in Atlanta, joining current MLB home run leader Cal Raleigh of the Mariners and hometown hero Ronald Acuna Jr.
He will attempt to be the third National to win the competition, after Bryce Harper in 2018 and Juan Soto in 2022.
Wood has 22 home runs in his first full MLB season, the most among NL outfielders and fifth in the NL overall, and those include a pair of 451-footers – one of which is the longest dinger at Dodger Stadium this season.
But, he has just one career home run in 25 at-bats at Truist Park.
The 22-year-old slugger also ranks in the 99th percentile in hard-hit rate and 97th percentile in barrel rate and average exit velocity this season, and his 12 homers of 110 MPH exit velo or higher is second to only Shohei Ohtani – and again, that mark includes a 116.3 MPH tater that is tied for the Nationals’ hardest-hit HR in the Statcast era.