James Wood is a perfect fit for the Home Run Derby. Will he do it?

Washington Post

4 hours ago

James Wood doesn't know whether, or when, the invite to participate in the Home Run Derby will arrive. He doesn't know whether, or when, he will accept. He downplayed it every chance he could during a conversation in the Washington Nationals clubhouse this month. The Derby is still weeks away, set for July 14 in Atlanta.
That doesn't preclude his teammates from gossiping about it.
The prodding began in Seattle in late May, right around when Wood launched a meatball high off the batter's eye in center field at T-Mobile Park, an estimated 448 feet. The young outfielder, they say, has all the makings of a marquee Derby participant. His 21 homers, entering Monday's games, are tied for sixth in MLB. Few can match his raw power.
'I think he wants to,' second baseman Luis García Jr. said.
'Would I like to see him do it?' Manager Dave Martinez said. 'Yeah.'
'I think he would win it,' outfielder Alex Call said.
Wood's take on it?
'I mean, it's been brought up,' Wood said, smirking. 'But I mean, I don't know. We'll see. That'd be cool if I'm invited. So let's try to get that first.'
The Derby has no official entrants yet. Not every player who receives an invite will accept it — players must weigh whether they want that extra day to rest and whether they believe the exercise might disturb their swing. The prize for winning — $1 million — is larger than the 22-year-old's annual salary. Wood is at least partially aware of those considerations.
'I've heard all of it,' Wood said. 'Like 'it'll mess up your swing.' But I'm sure there's a whole lot of stuff it's good for. I mean, it is a lot. I don't know how they're doing the setting. I know they're talking about changing it back. But is it still time-based?'
(Last year, the first two rounds lasted three minutes, and the title round was two minutes.)
'You're taking as many swings as you can in like, two and a half minutes,' Wood said. 'That's a lot.'
It is. The machinations are quite different compared to his usual batting practice process. That usually goes like so: First he tries to catch the ball deep in the zone. Then he takes a break. Then he tries to catch it a little further. Then another break. Then, finally, he'll try to catch it out front. He's trying to hit backspin line drives. He's rarely trying to hit home runs, unless the air is thin and the ball is carrying. Forgive the man for having a little curiosity.
'Usually, with what I'm trying to do, I might hit a few on accident,' Wood said. 'So I'm going to watch those ones when they do happen. But I usually don't try to hit them.'
Only one of Wood's teammates has actually endured the exercise before. Josh Bell, who hit in the 2019 Home Run Derby, took a nuanced approach to the question. He acknowledged that it was, 'probably the most tired I've ever been with a bat in my hands.' At the end of the day, he felt the toll on his body from 'head to toe.' But he said he loved it. And while some players cool off after the Derby, that can be in part because of natural regression after a hot first half.
That said, exactly five of the last 10 Derby winners have posted a higher OPS in the second half than the first.
Wood, at the very least, seems like a lock to appear in the All-Star Game. Entering Monday's games, Wood ranks highly among National League outfielders in OPS (.934, first), FanGraphs wins above replacement (3.3, fifth) and win probability added (2.71, first). He is, however, unlikely to start in the game (after the first round of fan voting, Wood ranked ninth among NL outfielders).
His manager and teammates offer varied rationale for why he might perform well. Bell mentioned that Wood is young, able to cope with the physical demand of the event. Martinez said Wood generates power so effortlessly that he shouldn't have to try to overswing too much. A handful of players mentioned his steady nature under pressure; he recently snapped the Nationals' 11-game losing streak with a walk-off homer, and his 1.083 OPS across high and medium leverage situations trails only New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh. Outfielder Jacob Young said Wood's approach would look different than most pull-happy Derby participants; Truist Park's dimensions, accordingly, are fairly balanced.
And then there's the tale of his batting practice sessions. When they were teammates in Class AA Harrisburg, Young saw Wood hit a ball over the scoreboard in center field. (He never saw anyone else even come close.) Through an interpreter, García said the only person he has seen strike the ball as Wood does is Juan Soto — and added that Wood hits it with force more consistently. A couple players referenced the unruly lasers Wood hits to left-center field at Nationals Park. Wood believes the furthest he hit a ball in a game was about 470 feet when he was in low-A.
Mostly, though, teammates are just going to be happy to see him out there — if he is indeed out there.
'If James Wood is on the Yankees, he would be the number one story every night,' Call said.
'You always want to see your guys get recognized for what they deserve,' Young said. 'He deserves this, and he's worked his tail off to get to this point.'
If MLB does go ahead and invite Wood, Bell had one final piece of advice: If there's money on the line for the furthest hit ball, as there has been in the past, go for that.
'If I were him, I would just go after the furthest ball and make a little coin,' Bell said. 'And, you know — if he gets hot, he gets hot.'