Author Topic: Bringing the Wood to the OF - James Wood (Read 8459 times)

nobleisthyname · « **Reply #50 on:** July 03, 2024, 10:20:53 am »

Caught stealing last night. Now he's officially a National.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #51 on:** July 03, 2024, 10:30:04 am »

Quote from: nobleisthyname on July 03, 2024, 10:20:53 am

Caught stealing last night. Now he's officially a National.

it's part of the initiation. It's how guys like Abrams lead by example.

Slateman · « **Reply #52 on:** July 03, 2024, 11:23:19 am »

Quote from: nobleisthyname on July 03, 2024, 10:20:53 am

Caught stealing last night. Now he's officially a National.

Not just caught, but over slid the bag.

He's perfect.

welch · « **Reply #53 on:** July 03, 2024, 10:05:28 pm »

Stole second today. The kid from Olney learns.

IanRubbish · « **Reply #54 on:** July 04, 2024, 12:00:20 am »

St. James, franchise savior

imref · « **Reply #55 on:** July 04, 2024, 04:01:42 pm »

.333 BA / .500 OBP so far

nobleisthyname · « **Reply #56 on:** July 04, 2024, 05:17:43 pm »

I've been very pleasantly surprised at the walks and lack of strikeouts. Still very early of course but I was anticipating his debut to be more like Judge in 2016 or Elly last season.

Count Walewski · « **Reply #57 on:** July 04, 2024, 05:20:53 pm »

When he drove in the game-winning RBI on Wednesday night he had two horrible-looking swings and misses before settling down, fouling a few off, and hitting it up the middle. You like to see a guy not panic and have a good 2-strike approach.

imref · « **Reply #58 on:** July 04, 2024, 05:33:00 pm »

Ended the day at .308 / .471 / .308. Can’t wait for the power to show itself.

IanRubbish · « **Reply #59 on:** July 04, 2024, 07:15:17 pm »

Quote from: imref on July 04, 2024, 05:33:00 pm

Ended the day at .308 / .471 / .308. Can’t wait for the power to show itself.

He started out this year in AAA with high OBP and low power. Could be 4-6 weeks before there's much power, but the OBP alone is highly valuable, especially on this team.

Senatorswin · « **Reply #60 on:** July 04, 2024, 10:12:10 pm »

I heard them say the other night on MASN he had a high ground ball rate in the minors. So far that's been true up with the Nationals but couldn't ask for a better start. Good eye at the plate and high velocity off the bat. The rest will come as it did in the minors.

nobleisthyname · « **Reply #61 on:** July 05, 2024, 08:21:55 am »

I suppose one concern is he turns into some version of Oneil Cruz. Average exit velocity over 95 mph, max exit velocity over 120 mph, but always hits the ball on the ground stopping him from being a star player.

Slateman · « **Reply #62 on:** July 05, 2024, 08:57:34 am »

We'll see. As he adjusts his swing path, I would expect strikeouts to increase proportionally

rbw5t · « **Reply #63 on:** July 05, 2024, 09:18:55 am »

Would be nice to have Kevin Long instead of Darnell Coles right about now.

Natsinpwc · « **Reply #64 on:** July 05, 2024, 09:38:33 am »

Quote from: nobleisthyname on July 05, 2024, 08:21:55 am

I suppose one concern is he turns into some version of Oneil Cruz. Average exit velocity over 95 mph, max exit velocity over 120 mph, but always hits the ball on the ground stopping him from being a star player.

Yes. Wouldn’t mind some Ks if he could produce power.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #65 on:** July 05, 2024, 10:21:17 am »

Quote from: Slateman on July 05, 2024, 08:57:34 am

We'll see. As he adjusts his swing path, I would expect strikeouts to increase proportionally

I suspect we'll first see more attempts to lift the ball against righties. The eye he's shown against lefties is just fine, tbh. He's handling the the lefty breaking stuff OK, mostly forcing it into the strike zone and getting wood on it when pitchers try to triple up on sliders and sweepers.

IanRubbish · « **Reply #66 on:** July 05, 2024, 12:31:09 pm »

Quote from: rbw5t on July 05, 2024, 09:18:55 am

Would be nice to have Kevin Long instead of Darnell Coles right about now.

Yeah, I'm not worried about his ground ball rate or any of these other issues, but Darnell Coles can ruin a patient hitter.

RobDibblesGhost · « **Reply #67 on:** July 05, 2024, 03:15:02 pm »

Zuck says he switched from 50 to 29. Wonder how many people ordered jerseys with the number 50…

Apparently, though, you can exchange a #50 Jersey for a #29 jersey at the team store.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #68 on:** July 05, 2024, 04:04:02 pm »

why wasn't 29 available before?

welch · « **Reply #69 on:** July 05, 2024, 04:24:42 pm »

Wood has always hit the ball in the air. Look at all this season in AAA. He hit a homer or two or three or more. No need to worry about him hitting 110 mph ground balls.

IanRubbish · « **Reply #70 on:** July 05, 2024, 04:27:19 pm »

Quote from: JCA-CrystalCity on July 05, 2024, 04:04:02 pm

why wasn't 29 available before?

Free exchanges at the team store if you already bought a #50 jersey. Apparently, Mini Me and his relatives have not recovered from being convinced to do this. Expect it to show up in higher beer or Nats Dogs prices.

nobleisthyname · « **Reply #71 on:** July 23, 2024, 01:46:19 pm »

James Wood comes in at #35 on Fangraphs' annual list of most valuable trade assets. They consider him along the same lines as Jackson Holliday and Wyatt Langford, but as the best of the trio:

Quote

Same song, different verse here. Wood’s upside is almost incalculable. His performance in Triple-A this year was downright silly. He somehow walked almost as much as he struck out – at 21 – while slugging .600. His power makes seasoned talent evaluators giggle uncontrollably. My irresponsible cross-sport comparison du jour is peak Ben Wallace; just an absolutely massive and explosive athlete with a shocking amount of fine motor control for his size.

Wood’s major league track record is short enough that I wouldn’t feel comfortable slotting him into the middle of a contending team’s lineup just yet. He looks indecisive to me; he’s swinging less than I’d expect and missing a lot when he does. Honestly, I’m surprised it hasn’t been worse; the guy is shockingly young and riding a rocket ship through advanced levels of competition. His defense is a work in progress, too.

I think that Wood is likely to finish the year around replacement level. The thing is, I also think that he’s likely to finish several campaigns in the next five years with 5+ WAR. He’s my favorite prospect in baseball, and when he graduates, he’ll be one of my favorite young players. The Nats aren’t going to trade him because he’s a perfect fit for their competitive timeline, and I love that they put him in the majors as soon as it looked like he could hang. Like Holliday and Langford, I think Wood’s trade value is low right now relative to what it will be because the teams that would look to add him are probably playing for the future. I just want to note that he’s my favorite member of this trio by a good deal, almost (but not quite) enough that I put him in a separate tier.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-trade-value-nos-31-40/

hotshot · « **Reply #72 on:** July 23, 2024, 02:42:45 pm »

Was his power in the minors pretty much as we've seen it here -- all to the opposite field?

rileyn · « **Reply #73 on:** July 23, 2024, 02:50:28 pm »

Quote from: hotshot on July 23, 2024, 02:42:45 pm

Was his power in the minors pretty much as we've seen it here -- all to the opposite field?

I feel like he hits a lot to dead center. I think I remember pulling a HR in spring training. It will come.

GataNats · « **Reply #74 on:** July 23, 2024, 05:58:23 pm »

Quote from: nobleisthyname on July 23, 2024, 01:46:19 pm

James Wood comes in at #35 on Fangraphs' annual list of most valuable trade assets. They consider him along the same lines as Jackson Holliday and Wyatt Langford, but as the best of the trio:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-trade-value-nos-31-40/

Ben Wallace is one of the worst comparisons to ever be made. Wallace was a muscular, undersized guy