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Nationals Superstar James Wood Among Star-Studded Silver Slugger Finalists

Originally posted on Washington Nationals on SI
By Brad Wakai | Last updated Oct 22, 2025 12:06 PM ET

During the first half of this past season, while things weren't going well for the Washington Nationals when it came to the overall results on the field, there was still some exciting stuff taking place.

That's because James Wood was turning into a superstar before the baseball world's eyes. After performing well when he was called up in the second half of the 2024 campaign, the 6-foot-7 slugger took his game to the next level at the start of 2025.

Entering the All-Star break, Wood sat with a slash line of .278/.381/.534, 24 homers and 69 RBIs. That earned him an invitation to compete in the Home Run Derby, which was a great moment for the 23-year-old.

He cooled off in the second half, though. Rigors of a full 162-game schedule seemed to have caught up with him, but his total stat line on the year was still an impressive 31 home runs, 94 RBIs, an OPS+ of 132 with a slash line of .256/.350/.475.

That now has him as a finalist for the Silver Slugger Award.

ain't gotta knock on pic.twitter.com/br8msmADGk
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 22, 2025

Considering this is Wood's first full season of Major League Baseball, what he did this year is about as impressive of a start to his career that the Nationals could have asked for after he gave them an idea of what he could do in 2024.

Not only is he officially a building block of this team's future going forward, but he's also one of the game's rising hitters and is only scratching the surface of what he could potentially accomplish as a big leaguer.

However, it's not going to be easy for Wood to take home this coveted honor. He's up against some serious star power after the elite performances many others around the league had.

James Wood Is Finalist Alongside Multiple Elite Players

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The full list of National League Silver Slugger finalists were released by MLB.com, and in the outfield, Wood has an uphill battle if he's going to add some hardware to his mantel this time around.

Corbin Carroll - Arizona Diamondbacks
Pete Crow-Armstrong - Chicago Cubs
Juan Soto - New York Mets
Kyle Stowers - Miami Marlins
Kyle Tucker - Chicago Cubs

All of those players put together incredible performances this season, led by Juan Soto having an outstanding year with the New York Mets by putting up 43 home runs with 105 RBIs, while Corbin Carroll led the majors in triples with 17 and had another 30-30 season.

Wood has a chance to win the award, which would put an exclamation point on his eye-catching debut campaign. But even if he doesn't win it this year, he seems like he'll be a staple in this race for a long time based on what his ceiling is as a hitter.