James

Wood

Wood opened the scoring with a leadoff home run off Jansen Junk in the first inning, a 109.6 mph blast at 442 feet. He then drew a walk in the second, was hit by a pitch in the seventh, and doubled and scored a run in the ninth. The 23-year-old outfielder is hitting .243/.395/.526 with 11 homers, 35 runs scored, 28 RBI, and seven steals across 190 plate appearances.

Wood went 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. He now has 10 homers and five steals to go along with 27 runs scored, 21 RBI, and a .404 OBP. Still just 23 years old, Wood continues to blossom into one of the best young players in MLB.

It appears opposing teams have learned their lesson and are starting to pitch Wood a bit more cautiously since he’s drawn a staggering nine walks over his last four games. He’s also homered three times during that span, so he’s still getting plenty of pitches to drive. The 23-year-old franchise cornerstone is off to a phenomenal start, slashing .250/.409/.595 with a major-league leading 1.005 OPS to go along with 10 homers, 21 RBI and four steals in 27 games.

His OBP jumped from .366 to .390 tonight, and the homer was his third in five games. Wood’s strikeout rate remains a problem, but he’s hitting the ball even harder than usual this season. At 23, he still has time to get even stronger, which is a scary thought.

Wood led off the first inning with a solo blast off Adrian Houser, a 109 mph blast for his seventh of the season. He then brought another run across to score when he was hit by a pitch in the second before coming around to score. He was later intentionally walked in the ninth and scored for a third time. The 23-year-old slugger is hitting .256/.385/.570 with seven homers, 20 runs scored, 18 RBI, and four steals across 104 plate appearances.

Wood is on fire. He launched this home run 441 feet at 110.5 mph off the bat and it soared through the night sky. Simultaneously shocking yet completely unsurprising, he hit this moonshot to the opposite field. It just doesn’t make sense how he can hit it so far oppo that consistently. Regardless, Wood has five home runs over his last 12 games and could be taking a leap forward in the process.

Wood had earlier struck out with the bases loaded and nobody out against Braxton Ashcraft, but Pirates-Nationals was long enough to be two games and Wood was able to finally get some revenge in the tenth with a go-ahead RBI single. The 23-year-old superstar is off to a .256/.376/.526 start, with five homers and four stolen bases in his first 19 games of the season. Seems alright.

The shot to right off Brandon Woodruff was his first pulled homer of the year. He’d previously hit two to straightaway center and two to left-center. It’d be nice if he could go the short way more often, but no one is complaining while he’s hitting .274/.392/.613.

Wood broke up a scoreless stalemate with a 111.5 mph two-run double to left field against Brewers lefty starter Kyle Harrison. It was his lone hit of the contest, but wound up being enough for Washington stater Foster Griffin and a couple relievers. The 23-year-old fantasy standout is hitting .271 (16-for-59) with 12 runs scored, four homers, 13 RBI and one steal through 14 games.

Wood led off the game with a double off of Aaron Ashby and scored the game’s first run on an RBI single off the bat of Curtis Mead. He then added an RBI double off of Easton McGee in the ninth inning that capped off a four-run uprising to take control of the game. On the season, the dynamic 23-year-old outfielder is now hitting .268/.359/.571 with four homers, 11 RBI and one stolen base through his first 64 plate appearances.