Here’s what the hype looked like Monday at Nationals Park: a 6-foot-7, 21-year-old outfielder jogging out to left field in the first inning, not exactly wide-eyed but with a wide smile as he took in the moment on a pristine night for baseball.
Here’s what the hype sounded like a few minutes later: 26,719 fans screaming as they rose, cellphones out to capture the moment. There was James Wood — the Washington Nationals’ heralded prospect and the source of all the hype — stepping to the plate in the second inning for his first big league at-bat.
Nationals Park is no stranger to anticipated debuts. In 2010, Stephen Strasburg arrived from the minors on a Tuesday night in June and struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2018, Juan Soto, all of 19 at the time, arrived for a Sunday matinee against the Los Angeles Dodgers and struck out on four pitches.
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Bryce Harper? That 2012 debut happened in Los Angeles.
But Monday night, those in the ballpark had a feel for the moment. And in a 9-7 loss in 10 innings to the New York Mets, Wood did, too.
Because in Wood’s first at-bat, he worked the count full. And on the seventh pitch he saw, a sinking fastball around 93 mph, the lefty lashed a base hit into left field, a ball that left the bat at 106.7 mph. He reached first and sported a kidlike grin as his teammates celebrated.
“I’ve heard it, but I’ve never been in the center of it,” Wood said about the cheers. “So it was unique, for sure.”
Even as the Nationals’ new generation had arrived, old baseball rituals were followed. Moments after the hit, the Nationals’ dugout called for the baseball. If Wood, from nearby Olney, plays anywhere close to what some expect, his career will include more than one baseball to note his accomplishments.
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But debuts don’t always have perfect endings, which Wood learned Monday. After the Nationals tied the score in the eighth inning, J.D. Martinez hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the 10th off Hunter Harvey as part of a six-run outburst.
“The kid did well,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “That’s what we talked about. He took his walks; he got a base hit his first at-bat. And he hustled. ... It’s unfortunate that we tied the game but couldn’t finish it there.”
The Nationals answered in the bottom of the 10th, scoring four times — fueled, in part, by a walk from Wood — but the rally ended with Reed Garrett striking out Luis García Jr. with two on. The game ended with a loss even as the big picture of the Nationals’ future came a bit more into focus.
Back in 2022, as the Nationals trudged toward their third straight losing season, they traded away Soto, their superstar outfielder who helped them win a World Series in 2019. The move was painful for a fan base accustomed to winning, but General Manager Mike Rizzo emphasized that the haul of players in return would accelerate the Nationals’ rebuild.
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So Wood arrived with the Nationals in 2022 as part of a hazy dream not yet realized. To that point, Wood had only 81 minor league games to his name. He hadn’t played above Class A. And yet he was one of a handful of players tasked with the burden of having to live up to being the return for Soto.
Slowly, those players have made their way to D.C. First was CJ Abrams, a shy, skinny shortstop who debuted that August and now, at 23, has blossomed into the team’s most dynamic offensive player. Then came MacKenzie Gore, Monday night’s starter, who continues to look like a potential ace. That left Wood, outfielder Robert Hassell III and pitcher Jarlin Susana in the minors.
That Wood would be next seemed a foregone conclusion after an impressive spring training and an absolutely dominant first few months this season in Class AAA.
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“He has it all,” Abrams said. “Can track down balls, can hit the ball out, can steal bases, score runs. We’ll love seeing him up here.”
It wasn’t a stretch to say Wood’s first game was the most anticipated debut by a National since Harper made his first career start at Dodger Stadium back in 2012.
His first swing of batting practice — a missile that hit the red seats in deep center — only added more fuel to that belief. But if that wasn’t enough, his highlights were shown on the big screen for nearly an hour before game time. Wood’s first standing ovation of the night came when he was announced in the batting order, hitting sixth.
The Nationals grabbed a 2-0 lead thanks to RBI singles from Harold Ramírez and Joey Meneses. And then Gore cruised through 5⅔ innings before Martinez pulled him with two outs in favor of Derek Law, who surrendered an RBI single to Mark Vientos. Abrams then misplayed a routine grounder that would have ended the inning. Francisco Alvarez followed with a two-run double to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. But Meneses hit an RBI double in the eighth to tie the score.
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As for Wood, he struck out on three pitches in the fourth and grounded out on the first pitch of the seventh. And he came up to the plate in the ninth with the game tied, a moment built for a fairy-tale ending. The crowd rose again.
Wood took the first pitch, then hit a chopper back to Mets closer Jake Diekman. He galloped down the line, his massive strides causing Diekman to hurry his throw, the ball getting past Pete Alonso. Wood advanced to second and eventually reached third with two outs. Jacob Young — another rookie, another potential part of this rebuild — had the chance to secure a perfect ending. But his line drive to right field carried instead of dived and landed in the glove of the Mets’ Tyrone Taylor.
Even when Wood walked in his final at-bat in the 10th to bring Keibert Ruiz — the tying run — to the plate, there was still a noticeable roar from the crowd. Ruiz hit an RBI single, and the anticipation grew before García struck out to end it. And though the applause for Wood in his final at-bat wasn’t nearly as loud as in his first, it was proof that — as long as Wood is around — the hype won’t be going away anytime soon.
