As we enter the final 10 games of the season, James Wood is chasing history, but not the right kind of history. He is just 15 strikeouts away from breaking Mark Reynolds record for most strikeouts in a single season. While Wood has had a productive season, his second half has been alarming, and the strikeouts have been the biggest issue.
Right now, James Wood has 209 strikeouts on the season after a four strikeout game in the first game of the double header. With Chris Sale on the mound for game 2,
the Nats took no chances and put their 22 year old star on the bench.
This chase for 223 strikeouts has been the culmination of a brutal second half for the Nats star. In the first half, Wood looked like one of the best players in all of baseball. He hit .278 with 24 homers and a .915 OPS. Wood was one of the best hitters in all of baseball and got to showcase his talent in the Home Run Derby. With the way he has performed after the competition, I doubt he will ever do it again.
In the second half, Wood has fallen off a cliff. He is hitting just .214 with a .636 OPS. His wRC+ of 80 is 20% worse than league average. Wood also has just 3 home runs in the second half. However, the strikeouts have been the most alarming part of all.
James Wood will always be a high strikeout player. In the modern game, that is acceptable. Players like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have had MVP level seasons in their careers while striking out at a high clip. However, Wood’s strikeout numbers have gone from high but acceptable to out of control.
In the second half, James Wood is striking out over 40% of the time. Even in 2025, you can’t live like that. For the season, Wood is striking out 32.2% of the time, which is simply too high. Today’s game is a lot more accepting of strikeouts, but there is a tipping point that Wood has now reached.
Setting the all time strikeout record is quite embarrassing. With 10 games to go, I can see the Nationals giving their young star some strategic days off to try to avoid history. While this is Wood’s first full season and his first half was excellent, he has to go back to the drawing board this offseason. This inglorious chase is all the evidence we need.
At the beginning of the season, Wood came out firing and a lot of that had to do with outside help. In the offseason, he works with his private hitting coach named Coach G. Clearly that training helped him dominate early in the season. However, as pitchers have made adjustments to Wood, there have been no counters. You can blame a lot of that on Darnell Coles, but Wood also needs to be smart enough to figure out his own plan of attack.
The chase towards Mark Reynolds strikeout record will come down to the wire. However, this embarrassing pursuit needs to motivate our young star this offseason. Wood needs to show that his first half was not a fluke. If he cannot get back on track next season, things will become uncomfortable.
