No pulled fly balls? No problem for this unique slugger

James Wood has all the traits of a prototypical power hitter. He’s big (6-foot-7!), he’s strong and his bat speed is electric.

The Nationals outfielder has the numbers to match, too, with six homers, three doubles and an .870 OPS over his first 19 games this season, making good on the promise that had him ranked as one of baseball’s top prospects prior to his highly anticipated debut last year.

What’s surprising, though, is how he’s getting it done. Because nothing about Wood’s approach screams premier power bat.

For starters, he hasn’t yet joined in on the “launch-angle revolution,” a major shift in philosophy that has transformed the game over the past decade, with an increasing number of hitters focusing on elevating the ball more to improve their power production.

In fact, the 22-year-old Wood has been one of the more ground-ball-heavy hitters in the Majors this season. But somehow, hitting the ball on the ground more than 60% of the time hasn’t prevented him from ranking among baseball's home run leaders in the early going.

All stats below are through Wednesday.

The key lies in what happens when he does get the ball in the air -- it’s usually crushed, showcasing the elite raw power that fueled his rise in the Minors.

“Ideally, I hit it at like 28 or 30 degrees,” said Wood, who came to the Nats as part of the Juan Soto trade in 2022. “But I just think you go up there hoping for hard contact.”

He’s had no shortage of that over the past two years, producing hard contact (95+ mph exit velocity) more than 53% of the time.

His ability to scorch the ball is why 29% of his airballs (fly balls, line drives and popups) during his career have been barrels, Statcast’s classification for batted balls that have an optimal combination of exit velocity and launch angle. The number is even more extreme in 2025 -- he’s barreled 10 of his 18 air balls.

Highest barrel rate on airballs, 2025
Min. 10 airballs

1. James Wood: 55.6% (10 of 18)
2. Kyle Stowers: 50.0%
3. Ben Rice: 47.6%
4. Aaron Judge: 46.7%
5. Matt Olson: 40.9%

Hitters who can barrel the ball often typically produce a lot of extra-base hits. But hitters who hit a ton of ground balls don’t usually generate many barrels, which require at least some elevation. Wood is the rare exception.

Another way he’s defying the typical power hitter’s blueprint? He hardly ever pulls the ball.

As MLB.com’s David Adler recently detailed, pulling the ball in the air is one of the most effective ways for hitters to maximize their power potential. Across the Majors this season, nearly 16% of pulled airballs have gone for home runs. The rate is much lower for airballs hit straightaway (4.6%) or to the opposite field (2.4%).

But while undersized sluggers who lack elite bat speed such as Mookie Betts or José Ramírez rely heavily on pulled airballs to hit for power, Wood doesn’t need to do that. Remarkably, the Nats slugger is one of three qualified hitters who haven’t pulled a single ball in the air this year.

Again, it hasn’t mattered. While pulling the ball in the air more often could unlock even more home run upside for Wood, he has managed to do just fine without it -- a testament to his rare ability to drive the ball to center and the opposite field. Over the past two seasons, only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani have posted a higher slugging percentage on non-pulled balls than Wood.

Highest SLG on non-pulled balls, since 2024
Min. 150 non-pulled balls

1. Aaron Judge: .920
2. Shohei Ohtani: .800
3. James Wood: .760
4. Rafael Devers: .749
5. Elly De La Cruz: .747

Much of Wood’s success in this regard stems from his lightning-quick bat speed. Many hitters strive to catch the ball out in front of the plate, ahead of their bodies, which gives their bat more time to accelerate and leads to increased pull-side contact. It’s a different story for Wood, whose bat speed allows him to let pitches travel deeper -- giving him a longer look -- and still get his bat to the ball with enough force to drive it a long way.

That trait was on full display when Wood faced Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo on March 29. Wood twice let pitches travel unusually deep before lacing them the other way for hits, as illustrated below via Statcast's new batting stance and contact point data.

Wood’s third-inning single off Luzardo came on a 96.5 mph fastball that was almost 10 inches behind the front of the plate on contact. The result was a 102.2 mph hot shot that third baseman Alec Bohm was unable to handle.

Later in the game, he waited on an 86.7 mph sweeper from Luzardo before poking it to left field. The ball was 3.5 inches behind the plate at the point of contact, and Wood didn't seem like he got all of it. However, it came off his bat at 103.6 mph and just kept going, sailing over the head of left fielder Max Kepler and almost carrying out of the park.

On average this season, Wood's contact point on batted balls is 0.3 inches behind the front of home plate. The average hitter contacts the ball 2.4 inches in front of the plate.

But that’s not the only way Wood’s contact point stands out.

Looking at Wood's 2025 spray chart, you might assume he has been hunting pitches on the outer half of the plate, looking for opportunities to extend his arms and drive the ball the other way.

In reality, though, his contact point is actually one of the farthest inside of any left-handed hitter this season.

Farthest inside contact points by LHB, 2025
Measured from the center of home plate

1. Lawrence Butler: 2.7 inches inside
2. Nathaniel Lowe: 2.6 inches inside
3. Matt Olson: 2.4 inches inside
4. Bryson Stott: 1.8 inches inside
5. James Wood: 1.6 inches inside

Avg. contact point for LHB: 1 inch toward outside of plate

While some of this stems from the high volume of inside pitches Wood has seen, it also says a lot about his approach. In general, hitters make contact farther out front on inside pitches and deeper on outside ones, simply because of the path the bat has to take to reach each location. But Wood’s average contact point suggests a concerted effort to stay inside the ball and drive it the other way.

Wood’s ability to do that well is something Nats manager Dave Martinez was sure to mention after Wood slugged the first leadoff homer of his career -- a 445-foot blast to center field off Pirates starter Mitch Keller on April 15.

“The biggest thing is to stay on the baseball,” Martinez said. “A lot of people talk about maybe him not pulling the ball and everything, but he’s really good at staying inside the baseball and driving the ball from left-center to right-center field.”

Perhaps the most extreme example of Wood's inside-out approach came four days earlier, when he took a down-and-in four-seamer from the Marlins’ Luarbert Arias and hit a 110.5 mph missile over the left-center-field wall at Marlins Park.

The 93.2 mph pitch was thrown 4.7 inches from the center of home plate, and Wood’s contact point came even further inside (5.6 inches), resulting in an impressive blast that drew an incredulous reaction from Nationals broadcaster Bob Carpenter as he delivered his signature home run call: “See. You. I can’t believe it, in this ballpark?! Later!”

What’s scary, at least from the viewpoint of opposing pitchers, is that Wood may only be scratching the surface of his potential. He’s just 22 years old and hasn’t even played 100 games in the Majors yet, so it's likely this isn't the fully-formed version of Wood we're eventually going to get.

But let's not look too far ahead. We don't want to miss what one of baseball's most unconventional power hitters has in store for the rest of 2025.

MLB.com's Jessica Camerato contributed to the reporting of this article, while MLB.com's David Adler helped with research.