More on Wood's walk-off homer and emerging stardom

James Wood’s walk-off two-run home run in the 11th inning against the Rockies yesterday signified more than just the end to the Nationals’ 11-game losing streak. It signified a moment where the rest of the baseball world might have caught onto the budding phenomenon that we already knew of here in Washington, D.C.

“We kept saying the whole game, I said, 'Somehow, someway we'll win this game. We just gotta have the right moment,'” manager Davey Martinez said after the win. “And what a moment for the kid to come up there and lift us like that and really get us out of this funk.”

With a runner on third, two outs and his team down 3-2 while staring their 12th straight loss in the face (which would have tied a Nats club record), Wood sent the second pitch from Seth Halvorsen fast and high into the air. The contact was solid, but as Wood watched it, he wondered if it would travel far enough to get out of the reach of Gold Glove center fielder Brenton Doyle?

“Honestly, no,” Wood replied when asked if he knew he had hit a homer to win the game. “I knew I got it good, but I saw Doyle, you never really know with him out there. But yeah, I was just ready for the fastball, and I just was able to see a splitter up.”

The ball traveled plenty far enough for the first walk-off home run of his career.

“That's probably the first of many,” Martinez said. “I'm glad everybody got to see his first, but I'm hoping to see a lot more of those. Like I said, he's got a slow heartbeat. He's one of the guys we want up there in those situations. And he came through.”

Wood’s two-run shot, his second of the game, landed 428 feet away from home plate in center field. And the ball traveled 110.2 mph off his bat, the third one he hit yesterday greater than 108 mph.

That exit velocity is becoming his not-so-secret weapon. Wood is in the 96th percentile in the major leagues in average exit velo, 97th percentile in barrel percentage and 99th percentile in hard-hit percentage.

“Every time he gets up there, I really feel like he's got a chance to hit a ball 100 miles an hour or plus,” Martinez said. “What I love, though, is that he's taking his walks, which is great. If he continues to do that, then sky's the limit for him. He's gotta accept his walks, and when he does and gets the ball in the zone, he hits it hard. That's awesome.”

For the record, his 44 walks have him ranked eighth in the National League and in the 92nd percentile in the majors in terms of walk percentage.

But those exit velos are what’s catching the sport’s attention.

With his first two-run homer yesterday also going 110 mph, Wood became the first Nationals player with two homers hit at least 110 mph in a game. He also tied Kyle Schwarber (2021) with 11 home runs of at least 110 mph, the most by a National in a single season in the Statcast era (since 2015). He entered Thursday tied with Bryce Harper (2018) at nine.

Wood also now has 11 of his 20 homers hit at least 110 mph, tying Shohei Ohtani for the most in the majors.

Stardom is coming for Wood. As a local radio host would say, stop sleeping on him.

“He's my favorite player,” Trevor Williams said. “He has the long levers. He hurts the baseball every night. It's almost become boring that every game he's got exit velos like 113 miles an hour. How young he is with the mature approach that he has at the plate is special. I'm looking forward to seeing him flourish at the big league level. For him to do this in his first full year is insane. It's impressive. And I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes one of the faces in MLB at some point at the end of this year. So I'm thankful he's on our team. I'm thankful that he put a good charge into four balls today, really. He's a good guy to have on our team.”

Wood’s 20 homers have him tied for the sixth-most in the majors among some of the best – and most recognizable – players in the sport. They already match CJ Abrams’ season total from last year that led the Nationals.

He’s easily on pace to become the Nats’ first 30-homer player since Juan Soto and Anthony Rendon in 2019. And his current 42-homer pace over 162 games would put him in line to match Harper’s 42 longballs in his 2015 MVP season to be the Nats’ first 40-homer player in a decade.

“There's a lot to learn about him,” Martinez said. “For our young players, watch him go out there and appreciate what he does. Really.”

But the ever-humble Wood doesn’t care about the accolades. He doesn’t care about the stats or the advanced metrics on his laser home runs. He cares about his team winning, which he helped deliver when they needed him the most.

“I think it was good,” he said. “I felt like the past few days, we've been getting really close. Just taking good swings, making good at-bats. So it just feels good to get back in the win column.”