The Washington Nationals are expected to promote their No. 2 prospect James Wood, for his major-league debut on Monday, according to multiple reports. Wood, 21, recently ranked the No. 5 prospect in baseball by The Athletic’s Keith Law, is batting .346/.458/.578 with 10 home runs in 51 games for Triple-A Rochester. The outfielder is expected to play for Rochester over the weekend before joining the big-league team ahead of a series against the New York Mets.
Sources: James Wood will be called up to debut in DC with the Nats on Monday. The long wait is over. Wood will play his first big league game against the Mets at Nats Park in three days.
One of the best prospects in baseball, Wood is hitting .346 with a 1.036 OPS in Triple-A.
— Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) June 28, 2024
Originally selected in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the San Diego Padres, Wood was part of the return the Nationals received in August 2022 for Juan Soto and Josh Bell. The 6-foot-7 Wood struggled after the trade but had a bounce-back season in 2023, hitting 26 home runs in 129 games split between High A and Double A. Wood has improved on that performance this season in Triple A, cutting his strikeout rate from 30 percent to 17 percent and raising his walk rate from 12 percent to 17 percent.
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Law noted in his most recent MLB prospect ranking that Wood’s improved plate discipline had significantly raised his ceiling as a player. From that June 3 write-up:
“My main concern with Wood coming into this year was how he managed his huge strike zone, from fastballs up in the zone to sliders down in or out of it. It’s a challenge most hitters his height have to confront at some point, and few have done so successfully in MLB history. The Nats were aggressive with Wood, moving him up to Triple A this spring despite a high strikeout rate in Double A in the second half of 2023, and he’s responded with the biggest improvement of his career, cutting his whiff rate from 34 percent to 27 percent, and on sliders specifically from 44 percent to 23 percent.
There’s still more chase than you’d like but if that’s his worst attribute, we’re miles ahead of where he was a year ago. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have to make a similar adjustment again in the majors, and maybe struggle with contact in his first year or so after he gets the call, but I’m way more optimistic about the probability of him making that adjustment and maintaining it going forward than I was at this point last year.”
Wood generated a lot of excitement this spring when he hit .364/.509/.705 with four homers and 11 walks in 22 big-league spring training games. Then he got off to a fast start in Triple A before missing three weeks with a hamstring injury suffered in late May. He returned to the field on June 18.
Top prospect vs. top prospect 🔥@Nationals' James Wood (MLB No. 14) takes Ricky Tiedemann (MLB No. 27) deep on this sweeper for his first Triple-A @RocRedWings homer. pic.twitter.com/Vork9R9HsY
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 11, 2024
Wood isn’t just a power prospect, having stolen 58 bases in 282 career minor-league games. He’s played all three outfield positions in the minors but has split most of his time this season between center and left. Wood will debut at Nationals Park as a hometown kid. He grew up in the D.C. area before finishing his high school time in Florida at the IMG Academy.
Additional reading
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(Photo of Wood from spring training: Nick Cammett / Diamond Images via Getty Images)