Follow the Prospects: James Wood, OF

[Natsinpwc]

I think Wood would fit in CF in a Winker / Wood / Thomas outfield. Robles already was a platoon bat / defensive replacement and could still do that if he comes back. As for Young, he could fill the Robles role.

If Holliday is coming up, then is MLB past the point where a guy gets a full year's service if stays in MLB? May be irrelevant for Wood if he's RotY.

Let’s see what the Pirates do with Skenes. Btw did Philly fans cross the state yesterday to boo Bednar? 

[Natsinpwc]

So we are all in agreement that Robles should lose his job to a guy with no MLB at bats.  Thought so.  Why did they sign him again?  Waste.  Could have just used Young as the stop gap. 

[IanRubbish]

DFA Rosario, Wood starts in LF, Winker off the bench.

Rosario is on a split contract, so he can go down to Rochester without being DFA'd

[Natsinpwc]

Doesn’t make sense to me to bench Winker while keeping Young/Robles in CF.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Doesn’t make sense to me to bench Winker while keeping Young/Robles in CF.

there's no benching of Winker in a Wood call up scenario. Wood is the primary CF and can play LF when Robles or Young is in for defense late game for Winker. Most likely, Young gets sent down, Robles is 4th OF / platoon bat. If they need roster space, then there's a decision about Rosario or Robles.

[imref]

Is Wood a better CF than Winker?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Is Wood a better CF than Winker?

by far. He's a real cf until he gets much bigger, then he's Judge. Winker is a dh playing out of his mind in LF this year

[Natsinpwc]

Two singles in two at bats tonight.  The second one had an exit velocity of 115.3.   

[welch]

I understand that Rizzo hopes to flip Robles, although what might the return be? Rosario was signed late, so this amounts to Spring Training for him. He needs to play himself into shape.

Why does that mean Wood should get to the majors after playing two weeks in AAA?

[IanRubbish]

Why does that mean Wood should get to the majors after playing two weeks in AAA?

Because he's ready.  He's been on a tear since the start of ST.  They can call him up as soon as Saturday and he'd have to finish top 2 in RoY voting to get credit for a service year.  There's no way they can keep him in AAA until August.   For once, would be nice to see this org act with class and do what's best for fans and for winning.

[imref]

Grant Paulson,

James Wood just roped a single at 115.3 MPH off the bat.

⚾️ That is the hardest-hit ball in the minors this season.

⚾️ No National has done that since Juan Soto in 2021.

⚾️ The Nats didn’t have anybody hit a ball 113 MPH last season.

⚾️ Wood is now hitting over .400.

[Natsinpwc]

Two singles in two at bats tonight.  The second one had an exit velocity of 115.3.   

I beat Grant Paulson to the news. 

[Natsinpwc]

I was concerned about Wood and his strikeouts before this season.  But he has hot very well at spring training and Rochester.  And reduced his Ks.  So no reason to keep him down on the farm forever. 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Because he's ready.  He's been on a tear since the start of ST.  They can call him up as soon as Saturday and he'd have to finish top 2 in RoY voting to get credit for a service year.  There's no way they can keep him in AAA until August.   For once, would be nice to see this org act with class and do what's best for fans and for winning.

The surprise for me is the contact. There wasn't much of a sign of this last year and it became his big red flag to many national prospect raters (not Longenhagen, but most of the rest). It's still a small sample in AAA (32 PAs), but he's chopped last year's K rate more than half (33.7% -> 15.6%) after 22.8% in 57 PAs this spring. I think he probably needs a whole month or two to really establish that the extraordinary K rate is real. up to this point, he's hovered around 30% (+- 4) in the minors. Walks have jumped too, but he's always had a good eye.

[IanRubbish]

OBP up to .526 in Rochester.

[imref]

It's starting to get ridiculous that he's not yet in the majors.

[Slateman]

I was concerned about Wood and his strikeouts before this season.  But he has hot very well at spring training and Rochester.  And reduced his Ks.  So no reason to keep him down on the farm forever. 

ST is an absolutely worthless sample. Its dudes warming up. Trey Lipscomb was  .995 OPS in ST

The next two in OPS during ST were  CES and Langford

CES currently rocking a .417 OPS. Not a miss-type. .417
Wyatt Langford (who, frankly, looked better than Wood last year and this year) has a .640 OPS


Wood has a sample size of 8 freaking games of kind of meaningful baseball. How about we wait and give him a couple months to see if this is legit? There is zero reason to call him up other than his own development. The big league club isn't competing for crap. The only reason to call him up this season is for him to continue his development and prepare him for competitive baseball (which MIGHT be next season). Its an 8 game sample size, and I'm kind of skeptical of a .478 BABIP being sustainable. Especially from a guy with a 30 hit tool.

Meanwhile, we might actually have tradeable pieces in Winker, Rosario, Thomas, and Gallo. Without word from ownership about a willingness to greatly expand payroll (and by that I mean adding 75+ million in AAV), Rizzo needs to play the rebuild game. Which means letting Rosario and Winker get lots of OF reps, in the hopes of trading them for a lottery ticket or future middle reliever.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Well, the BABIP rate will fluctuate, but that isn't the most interesting thing of Wood's performance. It's the K rate drop with a high BB rate. You are right, there's a need for him to go through the AAA schedule for a couple times to see if this is real. I would like to see if he can keep this up or  whether teams figure out what he's doing. Nevertheless, it seems promising

[Slateman]

Well, the BABIP rate will fluctuate, but that isn't the most interesting thing of Wood's performance. It's the K rate drop with a high BB rate. You are right, there's a need for him to go through the AAA schedule for a couple times to see if this is real. I would like to see if he can keep this up or  whether teams figure out what he's doing. Nevertheless, it seems promising

Its 8 games. Give him 40 to 60 before making a big decision.

[Natsinpwc]

The spring training and games in AAA give you a decent sample on Wood.  I didn’t say bring him up now. May is fine. 

[IanRubbish]

It's starting to get ridiculous that he's not yet in the majors.

It's just slowing his development at this point.  Like every other call up, he'll probably have some cold streaks, but his chances of contributing to 2025 success are much better if he's had 400 MLB ABs than 100.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

It's just slowing his development at this point.  Like every other call up, he'll probably have some cold streaks, but his chances of contributing to 2025 success are much better if he's had 400 MLB ABs than 100.

he'll get 300 is he's called up at the end of May.

[DCsOwn]

https://x.com/ericcross04/status/1778483160788971620?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

https://x.com/mlbpipeline/status/1778484611762565273?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

He has as much upside as any prospect in the sport excluding not a single person.

[IanRubbish]

https://x.com/ericcross04/status/1778483160788971620?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

What a great shot!

Wood is my strongest source of optimism for this franchise.

[imref]

Yeah, he can play CF.

2-2, HR so far. Just treating AAA as batting practice right now.  That HR came off the #27 prospect in the minors.