Through his first nine games of his big league career, Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood is batting .273 (9-for-33) with six walks and nine strikeouts. The left-handed swinging six-foot-seven rookie is holding his own, with a .385 OBP and .394 slugging percentage for a .779 OPS.
Nats GM Mike Rizzo called the youngster's first couple of games in the majors have been "outstanding," during his weekly appearance 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.
"Imagine being 21 years old, thrown into the big leagues and hitting in the middle of the lineup, playing a position that you've very rarely played before and facing, I don't know, a million left-handed pitchers," the GM told the Junkies. "It's been challenging for him, but I think he's taken it great.
"He's one of those low heartbeat guys, doesn't get too flustered or too worried about anything."
While Wood is still a long way away from qualifying for the leaderboard on the advanced numbers on Baseball Savant, the numbers right now are impressive. He has put up a solid average exit velocity (94.8 mph), great bat speed (75.2 mph), impressive hard-hit percentage (62.5), a low chase percentage (22) and an elite-level walk rate (15.4). The hard contact, of course, has been music to the GM's ears.
"And you could see how the ball comes off his bat, it's special, it sounds different and it reacts different," Rizzo told the Junks.
Overall, the Nationals have big plans for the very toolsy outfielder, who Rizzo praised last week as somebody who can be a "Gold Glove-caliber center fielder" in the future.
"We want him to be an all-around player, offense and defense and base running," he said. "I think you could see him improving on a daily basis in left field and on the base paths. And in the batter's box, you could see the way they pitch him already. [Opponents are] cognizant of who he is and what he can do and how he can affect the game. So they pitch him very carefully and it's for a reason."
Of course, like the case with Washignton's lone representative at the 2024 MLB All-Star game, CJ Abrams, the GM understands and impresses on the players that "development curves are not always linear" and "not always pointing straight north."
"There's some dips in the road," Rizzo said, speaking generally about the team's young players. "There's slumps, there's base running slumps, there's defensive slumps and you've gotta navigate your way through these things to this 162 [games] in 185 days. And that is to me, the key developmental aspect when you get the big leagues.
"You get to the big leagues, you still have to improve, you still have to play better, you still have to make adjustments... but the adjustment of playing 162 games in 185 days it is the separator from average to good, good to great, great to Hall of Fame."
Rizzo added, "You're seeing these guys learn each and every day and get better each and every day with back steps and some sidesteps along the way and some hiccups."
"But you can't tell me you that you can't see the ascension to all these young players," he said. "When you factor that in and our young pitching the way it's pitching and the players that we have coming up and payroll flexibility, you can't be [unenthusiastic] about where this franchise is going and the future."