Wood's picnic table blast is latest example of opposite-field power

The ball went soaring off James Wood’s bat and made a beeline for left-center field at Nationals Park, clearing the wall and clearing the red seats that reside in that one area of the stadium, finally coming back to earth at the picnic tables stationed behind the seats.

It’s the kind of territory only a handful of players have ever reached in an actual game since the park opened in 2008. And here was Wood, a 21-year-old rookie, a left-handed hitter, doing it.

“I definitely got it on the barrel,” he said.

Uh, yeah, he most definitely did. Wood’s eighth-inning homer during the Nationals’ 11-5 thumping of the Giants on Tuesday night was his most impressive to date in the big leagues, a 423-foot shot to the opposite field to cap a big-time offensive performance.

Wood had already tripled off the left field wall in his first at-bat, then drawn two walks and stolen two bases before stepping to the plate in the bottom of the eighth. Facing San Francisco right-hander Sean Hjelle, who at 6-foot-11 is one of the only players in the majors who actually dwarfs him, the 6-foot-7 Wood got a 94-mph sinker on the inner-third of the plate, belt-high and absolutely crushed it.

The crowd let out a roar, but really at this point nobody should be surprised. Every single ball Wood has hit in the air since reaching the big leagues last month, including all three of his homers and all three of his doubles, have been hit to the left of center field. He has yet to pull a ball in the air, with everything hit to the right side either a line drive or ground ball.

“I just think that’s kind of where my direction takes me,” he said. “I try and stay towards the middle of the field, and usually I hit wherever it kind of goes. I don’t really try to aim it or anything. I think that’s just where my direction takes me.”

The Nats don’t mind it. There are only so many hitters who can consistently drive the ball the other way like Wood has, including the superstar he was traded for two years ago. Juan Soto also knew how to pull a ball into the second deck in right field, and Davey Martinez is convinced that will eventually be the case for Wood as well.

“I think there’s another part of it (still to come),” the manager said. “I think right now he’s just trying to stay on the ball. He’s trying to stay in the middle of the field. He’s trying to feel his way through this league, trying to find out how they’re pitching him.”

Opposing pitchers have fed Wood a steady diet of breaking balls, especially down in the zone, since he debuted. He initially pounded a lot of those pitches into the ground, winding up making outs despite hitting the ball well over 100 mph.

Gradually, though, those hard grounders have turned into hard line drives. And now, hard fly balls that approach, or even clear, the wall.

“Nothing really changed,” Wood said. “I think I’m just still trying to put good swings on the ball. Sometimes they just happen to go in the air, and sometimes on the ground.”

Was it hard to remind himself all along that his process was sound, and that eventually he’d start to elevate the ball?

“I just think you kind of have to remind yourself that baseball’s a random game,” he said. “You can’t really try to hit a ground ball or hit a fly ball, at least me personally. I know some guys can. But I’ve just got to try to hit the middle of the ball, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Right now, Wood is seeing the ball go in the air, usually to left or left-center field. And the results have been quite good.