With another years BBWAA awards in the books and none of our Washington Nationals taking home any hardware, or even votes in terms of Cy Young, MVP, or Rookie of the Year, all one can do is hold on to optimism for next season. What better time to do it then now with about eighty-seven days until pitchers and catcher report for Spring Training!
It's no secret there needs to be a drastic shift in terms of the brand of baseball that is played in our nations capital. Having been absent from the playoffs for the past six seasons, and struggling to have a win percentage higher than around .400% and it seeming relatively unlikely the front office will bring in any cream of the crop, superstar level free agents this offseason... The Nats will once again turn to their homegrown talent to take on more of the load and carry the ship out of the rebuild.
Look no further than to Wood and Abrams, the biggest pieces that the San Diego Padres shipped to D.C. in return for Juan Soto have clearly been the bright spots of this team and outside of Abram's inconsistencies defensively, have been everything the Nationals could have ever hoped and imagined for. Specifically with James Wood. The 2025 season made it clear that Wood is indeed the truth and should be at the very least a cornerstone of the future, if not the focal point.
ANOTHER opposite-field homer for James Wood 🤯 pic.twitter.com/PpQ6LKFBge
— MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2025
With the 2025 serving as the true coming out party for Wood, he established himself as not only a face of a struggling franchise, but a budding superstar. In his first full season in the Major Leagues, he slugged 31 home runs, 91 RBIs, swiped 15 stolen bases and has an .825 OPS. Joining Alfonso Soriano as just the second Nationals player ever to post a 30/15 season.
Additionally, he also earned his first career All-Star game appearance and putting on a show on the national stage during the Home Run Derby, while also being named a finalist for the Silver Slugger. All things considered, this would be a remarkable season for most players at any time, but this was the first 157 game sample size we saw from Wood.
Here's why Wood will take the next steps in the 2026 season and earn MVP votes: The one true flaw was with his league leading strikeout total at 221. A lack of discipline with breaking balls and offspeed pitches can be expected for any young player, so it's not particularly alarming or reason for concern. In fact, it's all the more reason for optimism actually. With proven plate vision as Wood drew 85 walks and had an OBP of .350, if he is able to maintain that portion of his game and trim down his strikeouts even just to around 190, his batting average would also climb even close to around .270.
This hopeful, yet realistic bump in produvtion along with a better on field team product of Nats baseball in 2026 in terms of success, will hellp to display his undenuable power and translate to an MVP stat line. Projecting more than 35 home runs, over a 100 RBIs, and OPS upwards of .900 is the exact stat line that will propel Wood's name onto the ballot for MVP this time next year.