Grant and Danny

Wood Crosses Another Milestone | 'Bustin' Loose Baseball'

From 'Bustin' Loose Baseball' (subscribe here): The Nationals continued their dominance over the 2024 Miami Marlins, taking 3 of 4 in a weekend series at Nationals Park. Grant Paulsen & Tobi Altizer recap the weekend that was, including James Wood's first 2-HR game on Sunday.

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Broadcast on:: 18 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

>> Bustin' Loose Baseball, hosted by Grant Paulson, and Toby Alltizer, gives you in-depth analytics and interviews on everything baseball in the nation's capital. Now, here's your host, Grant Paulson, and Toby Alltizer. [MUSIC] >> Bustin' Loose Baseball, episode 150. I'm Grant Paulson, joined as always by Toby Alltizer, producer Darris Dameron is alongside. The Nats dominated the Marlins all season long, and that continued into the weekend. Three wins in four games, after losing game one of a four-game set six to three. The Nationals, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, four to one, four to one, four to three, pitched well, got the hitting they needed, and Toby, they got themselves a three-game winning streak because they get ready to sprint down the stretch. >> Yeah, it's impressive, Grant, you know, like you said, they've kind of had the Marlins number all year. And it's just funny because of all the teams that you would think, obviously, you know, usually the Marlins seem to have the Nats number, even when they're a better team for whatever reason. So it's good to see them kind of get the better of the Marlins this year. They did well against the Braves. And so honestly, overall, they didn't do anything against the Mets, but you felt decent about what they were able to do in the division, at least against two of the teams. So that was good to see, and then now you look at where they're at, you know, going into the final couple of weeks of the regular season. And they're at 68 wins, and so likely they're going to eclipse their win total from last year. And, you know, I think overall, when you look at this season, it's not going to be maybe the most exciting. It felt like last year, you know, coming off the previous season, that there was at least like a full step forward. It felt like there was, you know, some real progress. I think you can look in both directions here. There's some guys that felt like it took a step back, and there's some guys that took, you know, a half step forward. But now you look at guys like James Wood and Dylan Cruz, and those guys kind of establishing themselves, and they're ultimately probably going to pass their win total from last year. And maybe it's not as big a step forward as the previous year to last year. But I think it is a nice step forward from what they did last season to what they're doing this year. Yeah, well said, and I think it's important to remember, too, they sold off pretty extensively and root, oh, by the way, to surpassing the win total, which isn't a done deal yet, but is going to happen three wins away. So, you know, they'll end up, let's just say hypothetically, I'm just going to pick a number, but 73, 74 wins. You know, number one, they far exceeded the expectations, according to odds makers with the over-under total. But they improved on last year, and that's despite trading, multiple of their key relievers, Lane Thomas, Jesse Winker, losing Trevor Williams to injury, who didn't come back. So, along the way, they dealt with a ton of adversity in terms of both just making the youth movement, going to the kids, and I'm not sitting here pretending like it's been a successful or a good season, that, you know, adds up to everyone kind of their own prerogative to decide if they delivered the goods for you. But in terms of the rebuild, I think there were some really big moments this season, along with the promotions of James Wood and Dylan Cruz, and I want to start the year. James Wood, on Sunday afternoon, two hits, two runs, two runs batted in, because he hit two solo home runs in the game. He was on base three times, also drew a walk. Here is how his first home run sounded. Now the one will deliver, he's swung on, and, hey, they're in a deep left center field. This is way back, this ball is going, going, and it has gone. Goodbye. That's about seven rows deep into the brew house red seats, and it comes banging back down onto the playing field. Bang, soon goes James Wood, with a blast to the brew house red seats. His sixth home run of the year, RBI number 35, and he gives the nationals a two run lead. It's now Washington three, and Miami one. And for the first time in his career, as I said, James Wood, in his 66th game in the big leagues, hit two home runs. Here was number two, holding delivers. So we're going to drive it well again, a left center field back on this one, his towers to the warming track to the wall, and it is gone. Goodbye. Again, up into the brew house red seats. Bang, soon goes James Wood, with another long home run to left center field. His second of the game, and his seventh home run of the season. James Wood has gone deep twice in a big league game. It's the nationals for the Marlins two. So they weren't quite carbon copies because the first of them was to dead center field, just about the second was more to left center. They're very similar. He got out and pitches over the plate, got extended and drove them to center, left center field. Neither of them were pool jobs for Wood, who's now got seven home runs and an OPS just shy of 800 in his first 245 at bats. Yeah. And it's funny because on our last podcast, we had the discussion about who was the best player for the nationals this season. And you had to kind of disqualify James Wood just because he'd only been here since July. But the fact that that's even a conversation that he showed up in July, and you could almost say in half a season, he was their best player, most valuable player, that it just shows how important he was and how good he's been. And he did something on Sunday he hasn't done yet. And like you said, I mean, we haven't even seen the full potential yet. And he's going out there and playing incredibly well and been the best player on this team since he's shown up. There's still so much that can be unlocked for him. You know, I'm not one of those people that freaks out that he's not pulling the baseball all over the place. That to me isn't that big of a deal. But once he starts doing that on a a little bit more of a consistent basis, like you're seeing him go deep to center field where lefties definitely don't go, but not many people go. And then him being able to go the other way with the power that he has. It's it's really impressive. And, you know, it's a lot of fun to watch. And I think too, you know, just the experience that he's gotten this year is going to be invaluable for the off season and being able to go into next year. Because you think about, you know, we've talked about Abrams in the last couple of pods and the improvement that he made from last year to this year where he saw some different things he needed to improve on. You kind of saw that with wood from last year to this year, but it started more so in the minor leagues where he had a pretty high strikeout rate. He was able to work on some of those things we talked about at the beginning of the year, some of the tweaks that he made in the off season. And we've seen it pay off now into the major leagues. You think about now that he's had the number of at bats that he's had being here since July and having that time frame to be able to look back and say, okay, this is how I'm being pitched. This is what I can work on. These are the adjustments I can make, the little tweaks going into the off season. It's the same thing with crews as well. That's why I think it's so important that these guys get this experience. And I'm excited to see because he's already a fantastic baseball player on pace to drive in. Basically a hundred runs on a bad baseball team. Imagine what he can be when he really starts to come into his own. Maybe not even just next year, but even years down the road. I mean, the the ceiling is just ridiculous with James Wood. Yeah, or if they gave a legitimate, you know, credible veteran power hitter in the lineup, whether they go out and sign Christian Walker at first base or Anthony Santander, you know, and right field or something, could really be a game changer in terms of protecting wood, getting him some more bitches to see as well. He has hit safely in 12 of his last 16 games. He's hitting 270 during that stretch with nine runs scored four stolen bases and the two home runs today, but continues to produce continues to impress. The strikeouts obviously have been kind of the one bugaboo if you want to say that because he does strike out a lot. But a couple of things. One, I think, you know, his strike zone more so than almost anybody on the team is pretty inconsistent. He's the kind of guy that I think is going to benefit immensely eventually from electronic strike zone because he just has more balls called strikes against him than anybody else. And that sounds like an excuse or, you know, trying to defend the guy. But frankly, I mean, there's been a lot of literature on this with Aaron Judge. It happens when you're his size. umpires have a hard time adjusting. It's a real thing. So that's number one. Number two, he works counts, man. He draws walks. And when you're comfortable working to strike three ball full count, you know, long at bats, you're going to strike out some. And then the last part would be that just at six, seven with long levers is going to be some swing and miss. I think he's done a pretty good job cleaning up holes, especially as you talked about this year, you know, coming back after a really nice off season and some adjustments. But, you know, the whiff percentage is, you know, in the, you know, right around the 25th percentile if I had to guess this year, he doesn't qualify. So you can't get it on so on. But, you know, it's, it's in the lower quartile. The strikeout percentage same thing is, is probably around the 20th percentile. But other than that, everything else is pretty special. Well over average, average exit velocities, you know, in the 90 something percentile, hard hit percentage, probably the 95th percentile, bat speed, chase percentage, walk percentage, all of those things pretty awesome with James Wood, who's 83rd percentile and sprint speed. I think he's gotten more and more comfortable in left field. You're seeing him play a more routine left field. You know, fly balls are becoming no longer adventures. You don't really have to kind of hold your breath anymore as he's coming on charging. So for the most part, I'd say it's all been good in that regard for James Wood. How about Dylan Cruz speaking of defense though, the catches he made in this series against the Marlins. Not once but twice with just ridiculous grabs. The snag he made up against the right field wall on Saturday night Toby was astounding. And we've said this a lot, so I don't want to beat a dead horse. But he really is a like what I call a you got to watch him to get it guy. Because the numbers have not been overly impressive to 29 average 686 OBS. But man, has he done a lot of things pretty well. I just think he's got a super high floor. Wood has the much higher ceiling. And if one of those guys ends up being a superstar winning an MVP, it's going to be James Wood. But Dylan Cruz to me that the floor is just really, really high. Worst case scenario, he's like the best version of Lane Thomas moving forward. And I think there's a lot more in the tank than that. Yeah, I mean, he's just a winning baseball player. And you know, like we like you said, we try to be a little more analytical and give you more of the numbers and insight. And sometimes you can't really do that with a player like Dylan Cruz, except for I mean, when he's making plays like he did in right field in this series, I mean, the catch up against the wall where he jumps is fantastic. And then the sliding catch as well was fantastic. And the cool part about that one that I really liked. And I think again, shows you the kind of player and what he brings to the team is he was like, holy smokes, I made that catch. And he's looking at Jacob Young as they're running in. And he was bringing that excitement that I've talked about where I think there's just a aura, a confidence that he brings to the ball club that when he walks off the bus with your team, you feel a lot better about yourselves, like you're going to win that day. So again, I don't know exactly what his ceiling is. I don't like you said, I don't think it's an MVP type ceiling where James Wood potentially could be that. But I think he's someone that is going to be a cornerstone of this franchise for a long time where, you know, people are going to be wearing Cruz jerseys around that park. And people are going to be so thrilled that that guy is on their team. And maybe he's not the best player on the team, but he's someone that, you know, 29 other ball clubs are looking at and saying, I love what this guy brings to the ballpark every single day. And we wish we had that guy. And I think it's going to be fun for Nat's fans to have that dude on their team once again, because, you know, for a couple of years, it hasn't necessarily been like that. Two for 12 was just a run scored in the final three games that three wins for the Nationals against the Marlins at the tail end of this series. So you definitely want to get him back going in the batter's box and get some positive momentum for him as you move forward here.