“I think it’s starting to get to me,” Wood said quietly.
Three and a half hours later, MacKenzie Gore threw an easy 95.6 mph fastball past New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso for a three-strikeout that ended the first inning. Ten minutes later, C.J. Abrams threw a ball to right field for another hit, and five minutes after that that He did a 360 and a “who else can do that” throw to bring down Tyrone Taylor at first base. Yes, the Washington Nationals lost Wood’s first game to the Mets, 9-7, in 10 innings on Monday night. But the Nats’ rebuild — painful, much-needed but still painful — is starting to take its toll. Thank you, San Diego Padres.
Wood’s major league debut was the most anticipated for the Nats since Bryce Harper, now (sort of) a dozen years ago. But it’s also different from Harper’s in 2012, Juan Soto’s in 2018, Trea Turner’s or Anthony Rendon’s in between. These players, all rising prospects turned stars, came to teams that were fully assembled, teams that were built to compete. They could fit right in.
The 6-foot-1 Wood has to stand out. He walked to left field for the first inning with a crowd on his feet because he was a centerpiece of what’s happening in this organization before he ever set foot in a major league batter’s box.
The face of the franchise in the future?
“I try not to really look at it that way,” he said.
It’s fitting. He may have no choice. Fans who still remember his past glory while licking the wounds left by the past few seasons watched, delighted, as the Nationals showed pregame video of Wood’s highlights from spring training and Class AAA Rochester. They rose to their feet when he stepped up for his first at-bat in the second inning. And they roared when he worked that at-bat for seven pitches, then hit a laser past diving shortstop Francisco Lindor in left-center field, his first hit.
“It’s so exciting, so exciting“We’re getting better,” said owner Mark Lerner, who appeared in the locker room before the game and sat in the front row at Wood’s media availability. “We’re seeing our vision start to move forward. The progress the organization is making is really, really special.”
A word of caution, for now and for the future: The progression won’t continue with, say, Joey Meneses at first base and Nick Senzel at third. There was a time when you had to be financially prudent and accumulate assets. That happened, but it’s over. The spending season is coming, and fast.
It’s an ongoing topic of discussion. In the meantime, Wood’s debut was a reminder that despair may be worth it. It’s worth noting that no team has lost more games since the start of the 2020 season than the Nationals. The lowest of those lows, emotionally if not viscerally, was Aug. 2, 2022, the day the Nats traded Soto to San Diego.
At the time, Wood was a 19-year-old who had never played above Class A, Abrams was a 21-year-old coming back from a major minor league injury and Gore was a 23-year-old prospect who hadn’t shown the ability to consistently stay on the mound. To Nats fans, they were just names on a piece of paper, the faceless return of a beloved generational talent. Today, collectively, they look like franchise pillars.
And who knows what will happen to Robert Hassell III, the outfielder still in Class AA, and Jarlin Susana, the huge right-hander who could be ready to move up from Class A? That’s five players for an organization that needed more than five players. In the meantime, Soto is still expected to be a free agent this summer. (Psst, Mark Lerner. Keep that fact in mind as offseason planning approaches. Reality: $500 million can be money well spent.)
So Monday was about what Wood represented. But it was also about Wood as a player and as a person. That’s important, too.
“I just think he’s an impact player who has a chance to be the centerpiece that gets us back to where we were in 2019,” said Matt LeCroy, Wood’s manager in Rochester.
It’s a topic that makes you dream because 2019 would be the year of the World Series. LeCroy, a veteran of eight major league seasons as a catcher, has been a manager and coach in the Nationals organization for 17 more seasons. He knows what he’s looking at in terms of a player’s tools. But he also understands the makeup that helps great major league players become great.
“James has always been a great human being,” LeCroy said by phone Monday. “He’s a very quiet individual at times, but he treats everyone very well and with a lot of respect. He’s pretty quiet, but he plays the game the right way. I wasn’t quite sure what his demeanor would look like on the field, but to me, he was everything people talk about with his talent — and more. He wants to be coached. That’s what opened my eyes to what he could become.”
Wood didn’t immediately share his feedback with Rochester’s coaching staff. “It took about three weeks,” LeCroy said. But then he got going. He started asking coach Billy McMillon when and how to be aggressive on the bases. His conversations with hitting coach Brian Daubach became more in-depth.
“He was the one who started this openness to learning,” LeCroy said. “He just wanted to become a better player.”
It’s a process that can’t be stopped for Wood as an individual or the Nats as an organization. The Soto trade was a step toward making the rebuild possible. But there are steps ahead. Abrams can be more consistent, as his costly sixth-inning error reminded everyone. Gore can be more effective, as his 104-pitch outing yielded a blowout but only 17 outs. Wood’s feet aren’t wet yet, and his first-at-bat single was followed by a three-strikeout and a groundout on the first pitch — and then a wild ninth-inning play in which a pitcher’s squibber had Wood standing at second base, a play that marked an error that could have been a hit.
“As soon as the ball is hit,” Wood said, “I just try to hurry up and make it difficult for them.”
He made it tough on the Mets. He’ll make it tough on other teams. And there are more to come – Dylan Crews, Brady House, etc.
“It’s hard not to see what’s happening,” said Jacob Young, the rookie center fielder who has identified himself as a potential piece. “You see this core starting to develop into something that’s going to be special in a couple years.”
It doesn’t have to be a few years from now. It could be next year. Welcome to Washington, James Wood. Let your debut be recognized as worthy of all the hype. If it is, it means you’ve become the player the Nationals envision. And if it does, it means you’re a star on a perennial contender for whom all the agony of rebuilding was worth it.