After Jacob Young was nominated for a Gold Glove a week and a half ago, another Nationals player is being nominated for some hardware. It was announced that James Wood is being nominated for an NL Silver Slugger in the outfield. He is one of six NL outfielders nominated. The three winners will be announced on November 6th.
Despite tailing off in the second
half due to swing and miss problems, Wood still put together a very impressive season which is being recognized. The All-Star left fielder hit 31 home runs and posted an .825 OPS in his first full season. He was the first National to hit 30 home runs since 2019.
His batted ball data is also highly impressive. While the Silver Slugger is about production, it is worth noting that Wood had some crazy exit velocity data. His average exit velocity of 94.3 MPH ranked in the 98th percentile, as did his 56.3% hard hit rate. That crazy raw power is why he hit 31 home runs despite not elevating the ball consistently.
The other contenders for the award are Juan Soto, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Stowers and Kyle Tucker. Soto and Carroll are pretty straight forward choices as they were clearly the two best offensive outfielders in the league. Wood will be in the mix with Stowers and Tucker for that third spot.
Stowers has by far the best rate stats and also hit 25 home runs, but he only played 117 games. Voters may choose to ignore that and choose Stowers due to that .912 OPS. Tucker and Wood are quite close when you compare them. Wood hit for more power, but Tucker’s OPS was slightly higher.
I would be a bit surprised if Wood was one of the three winners, but it also would not be shocking. Even with his impressive power numbers, voters could hold a tough second half and his 221 strikeouts against him. He did not exactly leave a strong final impression for voters, which could sway them.
Even if it is not this year, Wood should win this award at some point in his career. His tools are just ridiculous. He hit some totally insane home runs this year, especially to the opposite field. There are some guys where the ball sounds different off their bat and Wood is one of those guys.
To be a surefire winner next year, Wood will have to improve a few things. First and foremost, he has to cut down on the swing and miss. He struck out 32.1% of the time for the season and that number was close to 40% in the second half. Cutting out the backwards K’s and being more aggressive in the strike zone would go a long way towards accomplishing this.
The sky is the limit for James Wood. At 23 years old, he is just getting started. Hopefully he can be more consistent next season. If he can do that, he will easily win a Silver Slugger and maybe even push towards an MVP.
