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WASHINGTON — James Wood was in high school when the 2019 Washington Nationals made their improbable run to a World Series championship. He followed it closely for two reasons: He was a baseball-obsessed kid on the precipice of transferring to IMG Academy in Florida to accelerate that dream, and because he grew up in nearby Olney, Maryland, and the Nats were the team Wood and nearly everyone in St. John’s College High School in Northwest D.C. grew up rooting for.
Five years later, the 21-year-old Wood’s big-league arrival (the Nationals officially purchased his contract Monday) was met with the kind of feverish atmosphere typically reserved for postseason events.
There was a media throng of more than 50 people lined up outside the team clubhouse, clamoring to shove a microphone in his direction. Crowds lined up early at the entrance gates, the first 10,000 of which scored a free James Wood T-shirt. For days prior, players talked openly about their anticipation of seeing Wood, whose promotion leaked on Friday and allowed him a few days of rest and brief time with his family. At 6-foot-7 with power and freakish speed, the quiet, shy Wood — the Nats’ top prospect and the third-best in all of baseball according to MLB.com — could be the kind of superstar not seen in the district since a 19-year-old very unshy Bryce Harper debuted in 2012.
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