Wood crushes farthest career homer, passes Judge for T-Mobile's season leader

SEATTLE – James Wood continues to out-hit himself.

Wood set a new career best with his longest home run – a 448-foot blast off the batter’s eye – on Tuesday at T-Mobile Park.

The 22-year-old Wood, who debuted last July 1, already has hit 15 home runs of 400 feet or greater. His 14 homers on the season are tied with Pete Crow-Armstrong, Logan O’Hoppe and Seiya Suzuki for eighth in the Majors.

“He's incredible,” said designated hitter Josh Bell. “It's not surprising. It seems like it doesn't matter the field, doesn't matter the pitch, he's locked in. And if you make mistakes over the heart of the plate and he gets extended, no ballpark can hold him.”

Wood did damage in an otherwise dominant eight-inning start by Logan Evans in the Nationals’ 9-1 loss. Wood’s homer was the only run allowed by Evans, who limited the Nats to a total of four hits.

“He made good pitches, you’ve got to give him credit,” Wood said. “Just got to be a little tougher, laying off the bad stuff and just making him work a little more.”

The lefty-hitting Wood was stifled by right-hander Evans in his first at-bat. Wood was quickly retired on three consecutive called strikes. In their next matchup in the fourth inning, Wood took a first-pitch ball inside and then smashed a cutter in the zone.

“Woody hit the ball to straightaway center,” manager Dave Martinez said. “When a guy’s like that and throwing cutters out over the plate, you’ve got to stay on the ball.”

Wood’s solo blast was the longest home run this season at T-Mobile Park. He edged out Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who pummeled a ball 444 feet to left-center field on May 14.

“We had a few fly balls today … that we thought had a chance, and the marine layer kind of kept them in the ballpark,” Bell said. “That was not a factor for James.”

Wood owns the three longest home runs by a Nationals player this season. His previous mark was a 445-foot homer off right-hander Mitch Keller at PNC Park on April 15.

“I’ve seen him hit a lot of balls really far and really hard,” Martinez said. “... I know he crushed it. It was loud when he hit. Straightaway center here, that is a good, long way.”

Wood, who ranks in the 94th percentile in average exit velocity, crushed the home run at 112.8 mph. He is tied with Bryce Harper (4, 2018) and trails only Kyle Schwarber (5, 2021) for the most homers hit at 112 mph or greater in a season since Statcast began tracking in 2015.

“I love the way he hits,” said Martinez. “Whether it’s this ballpark or any ballpark, he’s a really good hitter. He really is. We’re just now seeing what he can really do, really. He’s playing really well.”