The problem – if it can even be phrased that way – with getting off to an unexpectedly positive start to the baseball season is that it can lead to some delusions, at least from this chair. If the Washington Nationals are .500 through 36 games – which is what they are after Wednesday’s enthralling 12-inning, 7-6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles – couldn’t they be better than that if they added talent to a roster that has obvious holes?
Deep breaths. This calls for patience.
Also: Bring up James Wood! Before he hits another homer for — Rochester!
One of the best parts of this surprising stretch for the Nats — who, through Wednesday, were tied for the last of the National League’s three wild-card berths — is that so many of the pieces that could be part of a truly contending team in the future are serving as the drivers.
CJ Abrams and Luis García Jr., the middle infield of the present and future, have been their best hitters. Though veteran free-agent-to-be Trevor Williams has been the most consistent starter, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and MacKenzie Gore have contributed to a rotation that — omitting Patrick Corbin’s struggles — has a 3.57 ERA. The back end of the bullpen — Hunter Harvey to Kyle Finnegan — has been all but impenetrable, allowing three earned runs over 32 innings between the season’s opening weekend and Wednesday, when Harvey finally coughed up a homer.
And if Wood were to be called up from Class AAA Rochester, it says here he would immediately be Washington’s second-best player (behind Abrams).
Put another way: Whom would you rather see in the lineup for the next 4½ months: Wood, the 6-foot-7 force who can demolish baseballs with his bat and swallow base paths with his gazelle-like strides, or some combination of Eddie Rosario (.143 average, .480 OPS), Joey Meneses (.218, .541) and Joey Gallo (.122, .597 before going on the injured list)?
The point: There’s room for the club’s top prospect. There’s also room in the stands at Nationals Park. Sell some tickets! Call him up!
Yes, that’s me drumming my fingers on the table and bouncing my knee. Wood, 21, clubbed two homers for the Red Wings in Wednesday’s 5-3 loss at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He is hitting .339 through his first 31 games with Rochester. He has improved his plate discipline enough that he has walked 23 times, good for a .444 on-base percentage.
Before Wednesday, he had only two homers — both in the same game — but his 11 doubles show he’s still driving the baseball. The entire Nationals front office saw the four bombs he hit in spring training, when he posted a 1.214 OPS, leading all qualified hitters from both leagues.
Plus, Baseball America noted over the weekend that Wood’s maximum exit velocity — the speed of the ball when it leaves his bat — is 115.3 mph, which would rank ninth in the majors, right behind Juan Soto. (You remember him, right?) His average exit velocity of 94.4 mph would tie Shohei Ohtani (he’s this guy who plays for the Dodgers) for seventh. The upshot: Wood crushes the ball.
Man, would he look good in a big league uniform.
So … what’s taking so long?
Before you can say, “They must be manipulating his service time” — clubs typically keep top prospects in the minors so they can delay free agency by a year — they’re not. Wood can no longer accrue the 172 days of service time that constitutes a full year. So whenever he’s called up this summer, he would be under the Nationals’ control through 2030. That’s important.
So, is this about … baseball? Seems so. Put aside what we saw in spring training — I know, I know, that’s hard — and dig deeper into the numbers.
Start with the fact that Wood has barely 500 plate appearances above Class A — 368 last year at Class AA Harrisburg, where he didn’t exactly dominate (.248 average, .826 OPS), and just 144 at Class AAA. It’s not unreasonable for the Nats to think more seasoning would be warranted.
There are some things Wood could polish in Rochester, too, that would help him have more success when he arrives in the National League. His groundball rate of 56 percent is one contributor to the lack of home runs. He’s also struggling against left-handed pitching, hitting just .185 with a .600 OPS while striking out a third of the time (as opposed to .374 with a .998 OPS against right-handers before Wednesday). Class AAA ball is where clubs typically stash pitchers who throw all kinds of off-speed stuff, and it can’t hurt Wood to see tons of junk from all sorts of angles that veteran lefties can offer.
Add to that the cautionary tales. Jackson Holliday, widely touted as the sport’s top prospect, was called up by the Baltimore Orioles to make a ballyhooed debut last month. Ten games later — 10 games in which he went 2 for 34 with no extra-base hits, 18 strikeouts and two walks — the 20-year-old was sent back down to Class AAA. Outfielder Jordan Walker, 21, broke camp with the St. Louis Cardinals. He lasted 20 games in which he hit .155 with a .497 OPS and was returned to the minors. Wyatt Langford, the outfielder Texas selected one pick after the Nats took Dylan Crews at No. 2 in last year’s draft, made the Rangers after a Wood-like spring training — and promptly hit .224 with a .588 OPS in 31 games before winding up on the injured list.
The Nationals are the team — and Mike Rizzo is the general manager — who promoted Bryce Harper and Soto as 19-year-olds. Neither went back to the minors. Both were ready. Both became stars.
So there’s plenty of logic to wait on Wood.
Ugh, it’s so annoying when logic offsets emotion.
James Wood is coming. It’s a matter of when, not if. And when he arrives, the Nats will not only have another key piece of their future contributing to a very competitive present. They’ll also be flat-out more fun to watch — which is saying something because they have been plenty fun to watch thus far.
