Nationals Superstar James Wood Garnering Deserved Attention for NL MVP Award

When the Washington Nationals traded Juan Soto to the San Diego Padres in 2022, they were crossing their fingers that they would one day have a player who approached his level of success on the field.

Soto was a true superstar, the kind of player a franchiez can build a team around. Having to move on from a talent that special is never easy, but the Nationals may have actually won that trade because James Wood has emerged as that kind of player.

He wasn’t the top prospect in the return package; that honor was bestowed upon fellow outfielder Robert Hassell III. Shortstop CJ Abrams was already making a name for himself at the Major League level, as was starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore.

Wood didn’t debut in the big leagues until July 1, 2024.

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One year later, he has already cemented himself as one of the most feared hitters in baseball, producing at incredible levels.

In his first full season in the MLB, Wood is putting up some eye-popping numbers, which have led to him being placed at No. 5 in the National League MVP poll shared by MLB.com.

Standing an intimidating 6-foot-7 and weighing 234 pounds, his power potential is through the roof.

He has begun to tap into it this season, already launching 22 homers with 19 doubles while knocking in 64 runs.

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A slash line of .283/.386/.552 has been recorded with an OPS+ of 165.

Wood isn’t laboring around the field, adding 11 stolen bases and possessing rare athleticism for a player of his size and stature.

While his offensive numbers are going to garner a lot of attention from voters, and rightfully so, it is the turnaround he has made defensively that might be the most impressive improvement in 2025 compared to 2024.

Wood has a plus-6 Defensive Runs Saved after being minus-7 last year. His Total Zone Fielding Runs Above Average of plus-7 is a major improvement over the minus-1 he produced last year.

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“With a .938 OPS, 22 home runs and 64 RBIs to go along with +6 defensive runs saved, Wood has already produced nearly 4 WAR in 84 games and cracks the top five in our rankings -- and could very well find himself among the top five in these rankings for years to come. It's definitely not hard to envision an MVP Award in his bright future,” wrote Manny Randhawa of MLB.com.

His overall impact has been felt with an impressive 3.9 bWAR, which is tied for sixth amongst all position players in the MLB with Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.

Center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (4.5) and right fielder Kyle Tucker (4.1) of the Chicago Cubs are the only NL players who have higher bWAR numbers.

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To little surprise, Ohtani, Crow-Armstrong and Tucker are three of the four players ahead of Wood in the NL MVP voting poll. The other is Soto, who had a monster month of June with the Mets.

The Washington star is in incredible company and opponents are already respecting his ability, evident by the four intentional walks he drew in a single game against the Los Angeles Angels recently, as teams aren’t going to let Wood beat them.

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