Understanding James Wood‘s offending profile can be rather difficult due to its special and remarkable nature. He regularly shows a capability to strike the ball exceptionally hard. However, what sticks out is his propensity to seldom strike the ball in the air. During his big league launching last season, the Washington Nationals outfielder handled to put 198 balls into play, yet just 5 of these were fly balls directed towards the pull side. This striking fact puts him in the 385th position amongst 403 batters who tape-recorded a minimum of 100 balls in play last season, with a simple 2.5% fly ball rate. Remarkably, out of those 5 pulled fly balls, 2 led to crowning achievement, 2 ended up being doubles, and one was an especially loud flyout.

Such stats provide an engaging chance for additional analysis, do not they? The particular kind of batted ball that equates into extra-base hits at a rate similar to the frequency of dental professionals suggesting appropriate oral health is a substantial sign. If Wood might find out to pull the ball in the air with any consistency, he would certainly rank amongst the video game’s elite sluggers. Yet, as we discover ourselves a month into the season, he has actually not made substantial development in this location, and intriguingly, he stays among the video game’s premier sluggers regardless. Currently, he boasts an amazing wRC+ of 153 and ranks within the top ten for separated punching portion, thanks to his unbelievable power which enables him to take full advantage of a batting profile that is not totally enhanced.

From the minute he stepped onto the field as a novice last season, Wood developed himself as one of the most effective players in the league. Impressively, he has actually boosted his 90th-percentile exit speed by 2 complete miles per hour, raised his typical exit speed by 1.6 miles per hour, and enhanced his hard-hit rate by 4 portion points. Interestingly, throughout the very first 3 weeks of the existing season, Wood did not handle to pull any fly balls or line drives. Despite this, he stayed just 2 crowning achievement shy of leading the league, showing that although he strikes the ball tough towards the pull side like lots of gamers, his power suffices to clear the outfield fence no matter instructions.

This season, an impressive 29% of Wood’s line drives and fly balls have actually led to crowning achievement, the greatest rate throughout all of baseball. When thinking about extra-base hits more broadly, Wood leads substantially with an amazing 48.4% of his line drives and fly balls transforming into doubles, triples, or crowning achievement. The just other gamer surpassing the 40% mark is Ben Rice at 41.9%. This information highlights the reality that Wood is practically exceptional in this element. Out of interest, I took a look at the information from the whole pitch tracking age, setting a minimum of 100 air balls. Remarkably, there have actually just been 8 seasons in which gamers have actually gone beyond 40%. Notably, Giancarlo Stanton set the record with 45.1% throughout his MVP season in 2017. While Wood might not top the list for private months, he is definitely in elite business. When he handles to raise the ball, even a little, he ends up being an unstoppable force.

There are various amazing stats relating to Wood’s efficiency. For circumstances, his typical line drive takes a trip an outstanding 302 feet, positioning him simply one foot behind Byron Buxton for the longest in the league this season. However, what sets him apart is that he strikes his typical line drive with a force that is 4.6 miles per hour more difficult than Buxton. The small deficit in range can be credited to the reality that Wood’s line drives have a substantially lower launch angle compared to Buxton’s. Adding to this perplexity, Sports Info Solutions, which specifies line drive rates in a different way than Statcast, shows that Wood presently has the most affordable line drive rate in all of baseball!

The main factor I wished to talk about Wood is because of a substantial advancement that happened recently: he started pulling the ball in the air. Last season, just 7.6% of his balls in play were fly balls or line drives directed towards the pull side. Up up until last Wednesday, April 23, he had actually not attained a single circumstances of this. Remarkably, in the previous week, he has actually achieved this 3 times. Would you like to understand the result of these efforts?

The outcomes were outstanding: 2 crowning achievement and one double. With these 3 effective efforts, Wood’s pulled air ball rate has actually now increased to 3.9%. Below, I have actually integrated Wood’s Statcast launch angle charts from the previous 2 seasons. The 2024 season is represented in red, while the 2025 season is represented in blue. The overlapping location is displayed in purple. I desire you to pay attention to a couple of crucial observations. Firstly, it appears that Wood is breaking the chart’s desired style; the scale is not geared up to manage worths approximately 100, leading to the numbers overlapping. This shows simply how hard he strikes the ball.

Another noteworthy observation is the lack of any popouts from Wood this season. He is presently connected with just one other gamer, Brice Turang, for the greatest variety of balls in play without a single popout. Furthermore, Wood has yet to strike a ball at or listed below -50 degrees this season, a striking contrast to the 8 incidents of such contact last season. While he still strikes a significant variety of ground balls, he has actually made substantial strides in narrowing his launch angle circulation, leading to a much-improved capability to prevent the worst kinds of batted balls. This little modification has actually allowed him to lower his groundball to fly ball ratio from 2.50 to 1.84. Although this ratio stays high, it marks a significant enhancement and associates straight with his increasing production levels.

One last information worth keeping in mind is the development of smaller sized spikes on his launch angle chart. There is a blue spike at 25 degrees, another at 0 degrees, and a significant red spike at -15 degrees. This red spike is especially substantial. A beneficial approach for assessing a gamer’s swing course is to take a look at where they accomplish their optimal contact. Last season, this peak happened at -15 degrees, however this season, it has actually moved upwards, suggesting that Wood’s swing is ending up being less grounded.

Across the board, Wood’s typical exit speed has actually revealed noteworthy enhancement. He is ending up being significantly comfy at the plate, showing a propensity to swing at more fastballs while being selective with breaking balls. His persistence has actually obliged pitchers to provide more pitches within the strike zone. The most substantial developments appear when he raises the ball, especially worrying his line drives. A much deeper dive into hard-hit rates exposes an even clearer difference.

While Wood’s hard-hit rates on ground balls and fly balls have actually stayed fairly steady, the rise in his line drive rate is exceptional. Although this analysis is based upon a restricted sample size, it appears that when Wood links for line drives, he is providing remarkable power.

Although it is no longer April, I need to stress that I stay uncertain about the length of time this impressive efficiency will continue. I do expect that Wood will continue to strike the ball with exceptional power for the next 15 years; nevertheless, his capability to preserve this raised launch stays unpredictable. Many people have actually experienced comparable circumstances in the past, where gamers like Ke’Bryan Hayes or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. appeared to have actually found out how to raise their striking, just to fail later on. Hence, care is necessitated before totally accepting the buzz surrounding Wood.

Nonetheless, Wood sticks out as an appealing gamer for numerous factors. His athleticism is outstanding, yet it stays to be seen whether he can equate that into skilled protective abilities. Additionally, he might display a propensity for passivity at the plate, as evidenced by among the most affordable swing rates in the strike zone, however his high walk rate and the effective contact he produces recommend he is not missing his chances. Lastly, his remarkable capability to drive the ball with power, even when his trajectory is primarily downward, is notable. It is exciting to witness him pull the ball in the air; he produces such force that veteran commentators typically discover themselves chuckling in shock. However, he has actually shown that he can still be efficient even without regularly raising the ball; he simply requires to raise his hits regularly.