PITTSBURGH -- James Wood was efficient.
With one swing, the 22-year-old Wood checked off multiple career milestones and launched himself onto a notable leaderboard. His sixth home run of the season was the first leadoff homer of his career, the longest and the hardest-hit.
¡°Beautiful swing,¡± manager Dave Martinez after the Nationals¡¯ 3-0 victory over the Pirates. ¡°You can¡¯t hit a ball better than that.¡±
In the first at-bat, the lefty-hitting Wood went yard against right-hander Mitch Keller.
Wood crushed a fastball in a full count 445 feet, per Statcast, to center field. The ball zoomed at 112.6 mph onto the PNC Park concourse.
¡°I faced [Keller] last year, and he was good at kind of dotting around and working the edges of the zone,¡± Wood said. ¡°I was just trying to be aggressive on a fastball.¡±
Lauded for his patience at the plate, Wood worked a full count.
¡°He laid off some pretty good pitches,¡± Martinez said. ¡°He got the ball up, and he was on it. It was awesome.¡±
The Nationals entered the game 4-3 when scoring first, and the early offense established the rhythm for starting right-hander Jake Irvin.
¡°I just heard the crack of the bat,¡± said Irvin, who became the first Nats starter to complete seven innings this season. ¡°Guy¡¯s a tone-setter. Makes my job a lot easier when we come out and have a guy like him to set the tone like that. It¡¯s awesome.¡±
With his sixth homer, Wood was tied for the second-most home runs in baseball (Tyler Soderstrom, 8). Unlike many veteran sluggers on the list, Wood is only in his first full Major League season.
¡°It¡¯s cool,¡± Wood said. ¡°But it¡¯s still early and it¡¯s a long season, so you¡¯ve just got to stay consistent. That¡¯s what makes those guys so good.¡±
Wood¡¯s homer also was the longest by a Nationals player since Joey Gallo (447 feet) on April 3, 2024. For reference, Wood was just beginning his first season in Triple-A at that time.
¡°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.
¡°Again, tonight, he drove a ball to right-center field, which was awesome. As long as he knows that when he stays in the middle of the field he¡¯s really good, he¡¯s going to hit balls a long way.¡±