The Nationals are feeling pretty good about the 2022 trade that sent Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres. While Soto has moved on to two different teams since then, three of the players the Nats received in the deal have already made the All-Star Game. In theory, C.J. Abrams, Mackenzie Gore, and James Wood will be the core of the next great Nationals team, although it has to be a bit troubling for them that all three are having good seasons and the team is still 25 games under .500.
I could also mention
that if those players continue to play like All-Stars, they’re going to be become expensive. As seen by the departures of Soto and Bryce Harper, the Nationals aren’t all that interested in paying top-of-the-market prices for young superstars, so it’s possible at least one of these players ends up on the trade market in a few years.
But that’s tomorrow’s problem. For now, James Wood is cheap, and has shown signs of becoming one of the best hitters in the league. The top 20 prospect recorded a solid rookie season in 2024, putting up a .781 OPS with nine home runs in 79 games. He followed that up in the first half of this season by hitting 24 home runs, and participating in the All-Star Home Run Derby.
That All-Star appearance appears to have halted his upward trajectory. In 23 games since the break, Wood is batting .194 with only one home run. He leads the league in strikeouts, and while strikeouts are often a necessary evil for a power hitter, in the first half, he was balancing them out with a good number of walks. But his walk rate has also plummeted in the second half.
It’s possible that he’s simply hit a wall in his first full major league season. He could easily bounce back from this slump, and continue to establish himself as one of the top young stars in the game. It’s also possible that opposing pitchers have identified how to properly attack him, and he might be the second coming of Dom Brown.
For what its worth, the Phillies largely held him in check earlier this season. In six games, he’s batting .174 with no home runs, and has struck out in more than half of his at bats.
X-Men character of the series
Thunderbird
In the famous Giant-Sized X-Men, the original X-Men are captured by the sentient island of Krakoa, and Professor Xavier needs to recruit a new team to rescue them. One of the new recruits was the Native American John Proudstar who had the mutant power of enhanced strength, speed, and senses.
After the recruits successfully rescued the originals, they replaced them as a new X-Men team. And on their first mission, Thunderbird died. It wasn’t even a good death, as he was just trying to prevent the villain Count Nefaria from escaping. And he escaped anyway.
Eventually, the writers decided that was a mistake, so they introduced his brother James who conveniently looked almost exactly the same with the same power set.
Additional thought about the series
The Phillies didn’t look very good in the final two games of the Reds series. The starting pitchers had bad nights, and the offense barely showed up. Assuredly, some fans will take this as a sign that the team is doomed, but it seems more of a case of a team just having two bad nights in a row. Then again, two bad nights can quickly become a losing streak if the team doesn’t play better. The hope is that four games against the last place Nationals will cure what ails them.
I’ll be alarmed if the Phillies’ bats don’t look livelier, because they’ll be facing a group of starting pitchers that includes: A rookie who has been in the bullpen most of the season (Brad Lord), the somewhat overrated Mackenzie Gore (strikeouts are nice, but not everything), a rookie making his fourth career start (Cade Cavalli), and a pitcher with an 5.55 ERA (Mitchell Parker). Combined with the Nats’ poor bullpen – even weaker now that they’ve trade Kyle Finnegan – and the Phillies should be able to score a good number of runs.
With the reeling Mets facing a tough Mariners team this weekend, it feels like an excellent opportunity to expand their lead in the East.
