Wood has wild weekend at Double-A Harrisburg

It was only a matter of time before James Wood made a big splash at Double-A Harrisburg.

After getting the promotion for High-A Wilmington on May 28, he only collected one hit over his first three Double-A games.

He’s been on a tear ever since.

Since the start of June, the Nats’ top prospect is 11-for-37 with four doubles, three home runs, eight RBIs and a walk with the Senators.

This past weekend proved to be Wood’s biggest yet.

On Friday night, the 6-foot-6, 240-pounder showed off his crazy athleticism all over the field. He made a spectacular leaping grab in center field to rob a Reading hitter of extra bases in the second inning. He then gave the Senators the win with a walk-off single up the middle to score fellow top prospect Robert Hassell III from second in the bottom of the 11th inning.

“I saw them this morning,” Nationals manager Davey Martinez said Saturday of Wood’s highlights. “Big hit for James Wood and Hassell keeps getting on base with the two walks and stuff. They're playing well. That's a great time for us. And like I said, they're part of our future, so I'm excited that they're doing well.”

Wood came back the next day and contributed big hits in a doubleheader against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays).

In the opening game, the 20-year-old provided the Senators’ only run in a 6-1 loss with a monster home run in the fourth inning. He crushed a ball over 380 feet out of FNB Field in Harrisburg for his third Double-A longball.

Then in the nightcap Wood collected two more hits and two RBIs, including an RBI double off a left-handed starter in the first inning. He followed that with an RBI single three innings later.

He finally cooled off without getting on base as the designated hitter in Sunday’s finale. But even so, Hassell got in on the action with his first home run of the season, hitting a two-run shot the opposite way.

After Wood’s hitless day, his batting average in June went down from .333 to .297, his on-base percentage went down from .352 to .316, his slugging percentage went down from .727 to .649 and his OPS went from 1.080 to .965.

A big disappointment.

Wood’s pure athleticism makes him a potential five-tool player. Watching him play and it’s no wonder he’s the top prospect in the Nats organization who has already reached Double-A and one of the top prospects in all of baseball per many major publications (No. 5 in Baseball America’s top 100, No. 6 per FanGraphs and No. 7 per MLB Pipeline).

This weekend, his first in his new home ballpark with Harrisburg, showed why.