James Wood’s bat has gone quiet again in the stretch run, and the drop-off is hard to miss.
The Washington Nationals slugger has not hit a home run in his last 25 games, and he has gone deep in only one of the 33 games he has played since the All-Star break. That one outburst came in a two-homer game against the D-Backs. Since then, the power has vanished.
That’s especially jarring for a player who looked like a force in the first half. This season, Wood put up a .985 OPS and launched 28 home runs before the break.
He was even better than he had been in 2025, when he had a strong start to July after a slower opening month. But once the second half began, the production never really carried over.
The split is becoming impossible to ignore for a second straight year. Last season, Wood rolled into the break with a .915 OPS and 24 homers, then stumbled to a .223 average with seven home runs and a 39% strikeout rate after the break. The one bright spot was that he started to look more like himself in September.
This year’s second-half slump has taken a different shape. Wood’s strikeout rate since the break is 29.1%, which is high but not as extreme as last year.
He has also drawn walks at a 13.5% clip. The bigger problem is that the extra-base damage has disappeared.
In 33 second-half games, Wood has only nine extra-base hits, and his .222/.324/.325 line has translated to a .649 OPS and a 79 wRC+ since the All-Star break.
The injury he suffered in early August matters here. Wood went down with an oblique strain and missed a month, and he has not looked fully right since returning.
He has not homered since coming back, even though his September numbers at the plate are respectable: a .259 average and a .358 on-base percentage. The .328 slugging percentage this month tells a different story.
His work in the field and on the bases has also drawn attention. Wood has not looked sharp there, either, and there have been signs that he is moving like a player trying to avoid another setback.
Blake Butera even benched him for not running out a ground ball the other day. There have also been other moments where Wood has looked slow to get going on the bases or a little too casual in the field.
At this point, the concern goes beyond just the bat. Wood is a big body, and keeping that frame fresh across a 162-game season is no small task. The power dip, the lack of burst, and the uneven effort have all fueled questions about how he is feeling physically and mentally right now.
None of that changes what Wood is capable of when everything is clicking. He is still a rare talent, the kind of player who can hit the ball harder and barrel it up more often than almost anyone. But the same issue has now shown up in back-to-back seasons: he has looked like an MVP-caliber player before the break and far less reliable after it.
He just turned 24, so there is time. Still, if Wood wants to become the superstar his talent suggests, he has to figure out how to carry that level over a full season.
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Rodgers has been running that part of the Astros operation, and Houstons track record in that space has made his role one worth watching. His work has helped the Astros land several of their top prospects, giving Washington a potential boost not just in personnel but in the kind of eye for talent that can change a system over time. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Make Cade Cavalli Decision Fans Will Be Debating All Winter
Cade Cavallis season has already done plenty to restore the buzz around his future, and the Nationals are choosing to treat that progress with caution rather than chase every last inning. The right-hander put together a strong year, working his way into a meaningful role in the rotation while giving Washington the kind of consistent production it has been looking for on the mound.
Even with Cavalli healthy and having reached 200 strikeouts, the Nationals decided to cap his workload and keep his innings in check for the bigger picture. It leaves the club with one of those decisions that can make sense in October and still be debated all winter, especially after a season that ended with a 3.02 ERA across 32 starts and 169 2/3 innings. [Read more 🡒]