Wood continues to improve against lefties

PHILADELPHIA – When the Nationals were asked earlier this year what more did James Wood have to prove in the minor leagues to earn his first promotion to the majors, the answer was always the same: They wanted him to hit left-handed pitching better.

Well, Wood did just that in his 52 games with Triple-A Rochester. In 53 plate appearances against lefties, Wood went 15-for-46 with a double, five home runs (half his total), 12 RBIs and seven walks. That added up to a .326/.415/.674 slash line and 1.089 OPS.

He was ready for his call-up.

Then the question was whether or not he could continue that pace. Would the improvements he made translate to the big league level? Or would major league southpaws prove to still be tough for the 21-year-old top prospect?

Forty games and 169 plate appearances into his major league career, we may have our answer.

With an opposite-field double against lefty reliever Matt Strahm in the eighth inning of last night’s 3-2 walk-off loss to the Phillies, Wood raised his batting average against lefties to .300.

“I feel like I've always been pretty good against lefties,” Wood said after last night’s game. “I feel like it's always a challenge. I feel like just going up there, trying to embrace the challenge just makes it, it's tough, but obviously, none of these pitchers are slouches, either. These guys are really good, and just try to go up there and compete.”

Wood has 18 hits, three doubles (again, half his total), one triple, one home run, 10 RBIs and five walks against left-handers. He’s posting a .354 on-base percentage and .433 slugging percentage against southpaws for a respectable .787 OPS.

“He's staying on the ball,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He's getting the ball up in the zone. But he's staying on the ball and not trying to do a whole lot. He's using the whole field. It was a great at-bat by him to just stay on the ball and drive that ball to left field.”

That at-bat also capped off a night in which Wood reached base in all four of his plate appearances. He finished 3-for-3 with a double and a walk to raise his overall slash line to .289/.373/.450 with an .823 OPS. It was already his 10th multi-hit game and third of three hits or more.

“Feels good,” he said. “Obviously, they have a really good staff. Just trying to put together good at-bats and just able to get on base.”

It just goes to show, although the Nats tasked Wood with getting better at hitting lefties, the young star took it to mean just getting better period. And now he continues to do it at the major league level.

“I'm just trying to get good pitches to hit,” he said. “Obviously, you just got to be really disciplined with these guys. And I just feel like I've been doing enough damage on my pitches, which hopefully I can continue to get better at.”