2 weeks Ago
The Washington Nationals have been playing some better baseball of late, winning four out of their last five games. Now, the franchise is hoping to continue that success and inch closer to the .500 mark.
Despite a slow start to the year, the Nationals are starting to play better of late with some encouraging signs from the young core . Coming into the campaign, the main goal for the team was to see improvement from their 71-win season in each of the past two seasons. So far, that appears to be happening for Washington.
The team has seen multiple players performing better than in 2024, and that is the goal of a franchise looking to break out from their rebuild. While there have been multiple players both in the lineup and in the starting rotation playing well, one player has really stood out above the rest. Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the power of James Wood being something that the Nationals should be getting excited about this year.
“Dylan Crews may be off to a slow start, but James Wood has hit the ground running in 2025 for the Nationals. After an impressive first 79 MLB games a season ago, Wood has already crushed seven home runs and doubled five times,” he wrote. The emergence of the young slugger for Washington was one of the bright spots in the second half of last season, and now Wood has taken his game to an entirely different level.
The 22-year-old showed signs of his ability last campaign, slashing .264/.354/.
427 with nine home runs, 41 RBI, and 14 stolen bases. However, he has taken a massive leap forward from those numbers in 2025. In 24 games so far, he has slashed .
256/.356/.578 with eight home runs and 18 RBI.
The most significant improvement has come in the power department, but with his size, that was to be expected. As the Nationals start to plan for the future, they have to be extremely excited about the player that Wood is seemingly emerging as. With the increase in the power department, the 22-year-old is going to be in the conversation about making the All-Star team this year.
At just 22 years old, being considered for an All-Star nod is rare, but he appears to be following in the footsteps of some great Washington outfielders before him, like Bryce Harper and Juan Soto. As the team hopes to break out of this rebuild in the coming seasons, Wood is going to become a leader for the team. Hopefully, some of the other young talent will continue to grow around him as well this year.
Recommended Articles.
