“At the end of the day, it’s still baseball, so I’m just trying to look at it that way,” James Wood, then 21 and now 22, told reporters ahead of his July 1, 2024 MLB debut. spoke.
The Nationals acquired Juan Soto, a hard-hitting outfielder born in Rockville, Maryland, from San Diego (and Josh Bell) The 2022 trade-back becomes Washington’s third prospect to make his major league debut after signing with the Padres, joining shortstop CJ Abrams in 2022 and starting pitcher Mackenzie Gore last season. , Jarlin Susana (No. 4 on MLB Pipeline’s list of top prospects in the Nationals organization), Robert Hassell III (No.13), other prospects in the industry are both growing through the system.
Asked before his debut how he would manage the transition from Triple-A to the majors, Wood said he would just wait and see since everything was new to him.
“I’m not sure. Obviously it’s a jump and there’s no way to know that other than actually playing it…”
His manager, Davey Martinez, advised the young outfielder to keep doing what gave him a chance in the big leagues.
“[I talked to him] I’m going to tell you a little bit about his routine today,” Martinez said. He’s going to have a good career so he’s got to learn how to adapt a little bit here and just go out and have fun with the other boys.
“He understands we’ve been waiting to get him for a while, so we’re glad he’s here and his teammates are excited too, so we just went out and got him. Please play the game.”
The seventh-year captain said he knew from spring training that this was Wood’s time.
“I thought he would be here this year, but I didn’t know when,” Martinez explained. “…But he was really developing well; he really was.
“I saw him in spring training and he played against some big league pitchers. Even though it was spring training, he handled himself well. The biggest thing for me offensively was The thing is, accept his walk.”
“He’s got to accept the walks and then he’ll be fine.”
Despite the relative hype surrounding his rise, Martinez said he’s confident Wood will do everything well.
“He’s fine. He’s going to be fine,” Martinez told reporters.
“If you think about it, he’s been in the spotlight for a while now. If you look at ESPN, if you look at all the polls, he’s projected to be in the top 10, so to play here My job is to somehow get him through, make him understand what we’re trying to do, what he should do, and move on from there. to help.”
From that day until the end of the 2024 season, Wood was “…least major league rookie in stolen bases (1st, 14), walks (2nd, 39), hits (3rd, 78), and on-base percentage (3rd).” 354),” as the Nationals noted in their season review.
“His 78 hits, 39 walks, and a .264/.354/.427 slash line paced the Nationals from July 1 until the end of the season.” And Wood was as aggressive at the plate as his manager expected. He kept hitting the ball. , take a walk and get on base.
“[Wood’s] The number of walks given during this period was 39, tied for 7th in the National League. ”
- Wood ranked third in the National League with an on-base percentage of .383 (62 H, 32 BB, HBP) from July 27 to the end of the season.
- He reached base safely in a career-high 14 consecutive games from August 28 to September 13.
“[Wood] They made it safely in 30 of the final 36 games of the season. … [and he] He reached base twice or more in 36 games, the most by an MLB rookie since July 1,” Knott noted.
Wood posted 1.2 fWAR as a rookie in 79 games and 336 at-bats this year.
And as mentioned above, Wood hit the ball hard in the majors.
“Since he was called up on July 1st, [ranked] According to Baseball Savant, he was fourth in the National League in batted balls with 54 (30 of 54, 3 2B, 6 HR) and his exit velocity exceeded 165 mph. ”
“When he hits the ball the way he does, it’s like, ‘Wow!’ for me,” Martinez said at the end of the year. He’s not just trying to hit a home run. He’s trying to stay in the middle of the field and just trying to focus on hitting the ball hard and driving the ball, and when he does that, he hits the ball really hard. I’m so grateful to him because people don’t realize it’s always an adjustment.
“You have to make adjustments in this league. They’re going to adapt to you, and he always adapts and I can see that he’s done that.”
“I think he has the potential to be a really good impact player for us, let’s put it that way,” general manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo said in September.
“I think he’s going to be a really good player for us in the middle of the lineup, and he’s going to be a player that will impact the game in a good way for us in all aspects of the ball: baserunning, offense, defense and inside.” clubhouse.
“I think we have a really good, special player and it’s going to be fun to watch him play his career here.”
