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.”