James Wood has officially arrived.
If every superstar needs a moment in which they state their case as one of the best players in baseball, the Washington Nationals’ second-year slugger now has his.
On Thursday afternoon, with two outs and a runner on base in the bottom of the 11th, with the Nationals facing the prospect of extending their losing streak to 12 games, Wood seized the stage.
The 6-foot-7 masher unloaded on the second pitch he saw, clobbering it beyond the centerfield fence for his first career walk-off home run.
JAMES WOOD IS HIM 🔥 https://t.co/MxcDRRLPzN pic.twitter.com/UhjT2gcjth
— MLB (@MLB) June 19, 2025
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Wood had already homered earlier in the game, too. He’s up to 20 on the year.
Most notably, Wood leads National League outfielders in OPS.
Despite that, he’s ninth in NL All-Star voting for outfielders, which was released by MLB earlier this week.
On the logical side of things, it’s fair that Wood hasn’t entered the public consciousness of all the voters yet.
But it’s time for that to change.
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Wood is already one of the best hitters on the planet, and it seems like each night, he takes strides that only prove he’s getting even better.
The Nats have scuffled in a way that didn’t seem likely at the beginning of the year, not with all the young talent they have.
But even if the season has gone just a bit sideways, Wood hasn’t. He has delivered over and over again, blasting lasers to every part of the ballpark, including places no one else can reach.
And on Thursday, Wood delivered his biggest swing yet. With the Nationals needing their superstar to deliver, he did.
If you didn’t know James Wood’s name before this, you do now. And it’ll be one of the most important names in baseball for the next decade or more.
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