James Wood is doing what now?

James Wood made headlines Sunday, and not simply because the sweet-swinging rookie smashed a home run — 417 feet, 107.5 mph off the bat — that clanked off the facing of the second deck at Citizens Bank Park. The majestic, titanic blast looked so natural; except, it wasn’t. It was actually the first fly ball that Wood has pulled in his young major league career. 

Technically, Wood had pulled a pair of balls in the air, but they were both clear line drives: One a 105.1 mph lineout to first, and the other a 92 mph triple yanked down the first base line. In terms of strictly fly balls, Wood hadn’t yet hit one to his pull side. 

Since his call-up on July 1st, Wood has slid into the heart of the Nationals’ lineup, wasting little time showcasing his exceptional ability. Through Aug. 22, Wood is slashing .289/.379/.458 in 41 games, running a 141 OPS+ through his first 166 at bats. He’s only gotten stronger, too; through Wednesday, he was one of nine players with an OPS over 1.000 in August. And yet, he simply doesn’t do the thing — pull fly balls — that tends to make hitters successful. 

As a whole, hitters generate an overwhelming amount of their power from the pull side. In 2024, the average left-handed hitter slugs .703 to his pull side, and just .442 to the opposite field. The disparity widens on balls in the air, with the pull side (1.796 SLG) dwarfing the other way (.358 SLG). 

Looking at the group of left-handed hitters with just one pulled fly ball this season, it essentially becomes a cathartic exercise of 'remembering some guys.'

You have slap-hitting infielders (Joey Wendle), players coming off significant injuries (Tommy Edman), vast underperformers (Jared Walsh), Immaculate Grid cheat-codes (Did you know Rafael Ortega was on the White Sox?), and… Wood, one of baseball’s prominent young talents. His Pull% is 29.7%, which is the eighth-lowest among left-handed batters with at least 150 plate appearances. And when Wood does pull the ball, it’s on the ground a whopping 85.7% of the time, leading to very little pull-side power. 

Left-Handed Hitters with at least 150 PA, sorted by Pull%	Pull%	wOBA	SLG
Nathaniel Lowe (TEX)	24.4%	.317	.365
Luis Garcia (WAS)	25.5%	.337	.458
Brice Turang (MIL)	25.5%	.299	.360
Nolan Jones (COL)	26.4%	.275	.314
Jake Cave (COL)	28.2%	.308	.415
Jarren Duran (BOS)	29.2%	.367	.508
Josh Lowe (TB)	29.7%	.289	.384
James Wood (WAS)	29.7%	.361	.443

This isn’t an inherently bad group of hitters. Duran is having a career-year for the Red Sox, while both Lowes, Turang, Garcia, and Jones may all become consistent, high-quality big league hitters. But Wood (along with Duran and Garcia) is a clear outlier. No one else on the list hits for any power whatsoever, and eschewing the pull side could be a big reason why. 

But Wood is still succeeding, doing things his way. 

If we consider the pool of 192 left-handed hitters with at least 20 balls hit to the opposite field, Wood’s 1.115 SLG and .692 wOBA on balls sprayed the other way are the best marks in baseball. His power translates to the middle portion of the field, with a .532 SLG that ranks inside the 75th percentile. But on balls hit to the pull side, his .607 SLG is only in the 25th percentile. That all looks like this, which is a very bizarre spray chart for a left-handed hitter.

To be clear, it’s not as if Wood can’t pull the ball, but rather a matter of him not needing — and thus not trying — to. In Wednesday’s Mets-Orioles game, switch-hitting slugger Anthony Santander came to the plate against Edwin Diaz in a tie game in the ninth inning. Diaz, a right-handed, forced Santander to bat left-handed. Twice, Santander yanked foul balls into the netting up the first base side, one of which screamed off the bat at 114 mph. Even before SNY color analyst Ron Darling pointed it out, Santander’s approach was clear: He wanted to pull the ball. 

We haven’t seen that with Wood. If we look at the 96 foul balls that Wood has hit this season, 55 of those were in the air, whether in the form of a fly ball, line drive, or pop-up. Wood pulled just four of these, with the overwhelming proportion slapped off to the left-field side, reflecting Wood’s intent. 

This is a concerted effort to use a rare skill that Wood spent years honing in the minor leagues. Scouting reports detailed his plus-power potential to all fields, highlighting an exceptional ability to spray the ball with authority. MLB Pipeline even gave him a 70-grade opposite-field power, which leaves us to wonder if they’ve ever given an 80-grade opposite-field power before. 

Wood’s strength has undeniably translated, and with little hiccups. Of his contact to the opposite field, 39.3% are fly balls. So while he runs a high GB% to the pull-side, it’s not as if he has that problem anywhere else. And, notably, Wood’s IFFB% to the opposite field is 0%, which is to say that he hasn’t hit a pop up. He doesn’t get under anything, instead driving the baseball with authority — no matter where it is in the strike zone.

Heat Map of the Pitches that Wood Hits Oppo or Straight Away

It makes sense, then, that Wood leans on his trademark out of the shoot. But, something weird is happening, too. Again, it’s not as if Wood has no power to the pull side; anyone who believed that had their ill-fated notion shattered as Wood smacked a baseball off the facing of the second deck. And on Wednesday, well, wouldn’t you know, Wood did it again. He smashed a parabolic blast to right field, landing at the base of the wall for a double (with an assist from the right fielder). It would have been a home run in 14 ballparks. 

What’s interesting here is that the pitch was in Statcast’s Zone 9, the down-and-in quadrant to a left-handed hitter. This is a tough pitch, and yet Wood has mastered such a zone, with several extra-base hits to left-center. But, for the first time, he showed that he could pull the pitch, too, proving that the ability is there. Now it’s just a matter of integrating it, adding even more power to his arsenal without minimizing his all-fields approach. 

So Wood, who went over 150 big-league at bats without pulling a fly ball, has now pulled two in a four-game span. Considering how he hadn’t even been trying to pull the ball before, this has the bearings of an intentional decision, sparking the next phase in Wood’s development. It’s certainly worth monitoring as Wood closes out a strong rookie season.