I’ve watched baseball for most of the 24 years on this planet and have never seen a player like James Wood. He moves differently, he is built differently, the whole package is very unique. James Wood is truly a baseball unicorn.
It didn’t take long for the baseball world to realize that James Wood was a massive draft steal, as it was drafted in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Just a year later, he was a massive production of the huge hit by the hugely popular Hwang Soto. Wood was the most encouraging player the Padres would lose, and Mike Rizzo would not have made a deal without it.
The reason is easy to understand. Trees are strange things in nature. He’s 6’7 234 pounds 85th percentile Create some of the biggest contacts in sprint speed and baseball. James Wood has the tools of a true superstar. He also has an advanced patient approach on the plate, which allows him to elicit many walks.
Wood is also a lot of extreme players, so I think he is a unicorn. Despite being a left-handed batter, he Spray Chart He looks like a right-handed pull hitter. Seven of his nine homers went in the opposite way.
His most whimsical attribute is his opposite field power. I watched him thrust the ball It looked like that It’s a double, but somehow it was definitely a home run. It was a truly spectacular sight and was very special. James Wood does that on a regular basis. In fact, all four of his Homer were reversed this spring.
The analysis shows us that I pulled the fly ball Very perfect contact. But James Wood has so much power, and these rules don’t really apply to him. He can hit the ball into the left field and hit left center like a pull hitter on the right hand. Would it be nice to see James turn the ball on a little more often? Certainly, however, he can generate very opposite field powers that he doesn’t need to.
For James, a bigger priority is simply putting the ball in the air. The direction doesn’t matter. Last season, Wood Posted Ground ball rate of 55.6%. This needs to be down to become a special power hitter who knows he can. That rate has dropped to 45.5% this spring, making it a great number for him.
James Wood has made so many mistakes, at least according to the current batting meta. He doesn’t pull the ball or hit the air. Nevertheless, he posted last season 120 WRC+ at age 21. Wood is a baseball unicorn, and it just scratchs the surface.
He’s going to do something this season to get Nationals fans to hit the floor. The interesting thing is that he still has so many areas for improvement. In addition to his offensive game warts, he still needs work in the glove. Wood is a tremendous athlete, but he doesn’t look very comfortable on the left field. Hopefully it can change with more experience.
This unicorn skill set makes James Wood a crown jewel of the Nationals. He can simply do things that major league baseball players can do very little. Among the best players on the planet, James Wood highlights how oddly talented he is. Wood is on the cliff of something special and can become one of the best and most unique hitters in baseball.
