Wood crushes monster leadoff HR -- with inspiration from Teddy Ballgame

BOSTON – James Wood went exploring on Monday. He walked over to the Fenway Park bleachers and made his way up to Section 42. In Row 37, Seat 21 is painted a distinguishable red.

It represents a feat that lives in baseball lore: the location of Ted Williams’ 502-foot home run on June 9, 1946. The seat was painted red in 1984 as a hitting target for left-handed batters.

After Wood’s pregame history lesson, he channeled offensive power at the plate.

In his first career at-bat at Fenway Park, Wood crushed a leadoff home run to right field off Red Sox lefty Ranger Suarez. Wood’s 21st homer of the season (and sixth leadoff blast of the year) flew a Statcast-projected 441 feet at an exit velocity of 113.6 mph.

“It felt good,” Wood said after the Nationals’ 6-3 loss to the Red Sox. “It felt like I hadn’t put a swing on a ball like that in a little bit.”

Nationals hitting coach Matt Borgschulte and the players had been talking about the historical marker prior to the Nationals’ trip to Boston. When they arrived at Fenway Park on Monday, they went to check it out in person.

“The whole time, especially when we got up there, we were trying to do all the math of how it could even be possible,” said Wood. “And we don’t think it’s possible.”

For 80 years, players have pursued the feat. None has matched it – not even David Ortiz with an aluminum bat. It is a record that remains elusive for generations of hitters, including the 23-year-old Wood.

“It’s 30 rows up,” Wood explained. “From where the fence is at that point, it’s like 380 [feet]. And it’s another 120 feet, probably. So I don’t really care how much the wind was blowing. To hit it that far in the air and get it that high up, you’re three-quarters of the way up the Monster. So I’m not buying it.”

Wood did his damage to right field, rows behind the Nationals’ bullpen. He has demolished three leadoff home runs at a distance of more than 440 feet this season. Only four players have hit more such leadoff homers in an entire season since Statcast began recording in 2015: the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. (seven, 2023); the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber (five, 2023); Acuña (four, 2021); and the Astros' George Springer (four, 2019).

The home run was the 10th of Wood’s career at 113 mph or greater. Wood – who debuted on July 1, 2024 – leads all Nationals players in the Statcast era with 23 homers at 110 mph or more, ranking ahead of Juan Soto (21) and Bryce Harper (20).

Only the Rays’ Junior Caminero has hit a home run with a faster exit velocity (114.3 mph) at Fenway Park this season.

Wood's home run was a momentum changer, since he had been struggling recently. The slugger had not gone yard since June 14 against the Mariners. He entered the game batting .135 (7-for-52) with a .429 OPS in his past 13 games.

“He got an advantage count there to start the game and got a good fastball to hit and did some damage on it,” said manager Blake Butera. “He has been going through it a little bit, so it was good to see him get a good swing off there early for us and get going a little bit.”

Butera noticed that Wood had been “a little bit too rotational” and was trying to pull the ball. The coaching staff has been working with him on staying on time and on balance so he can hit the ball to the middle of the field.

“There’s going to be ebbs and flows throughout the long season,” said Butera. “That’s why I think our coaches do such a good job of diagnosing these things pretty early and are able to help put in some fixes.”

It remains to be seen if Wood will explore any other areas of Fenway Park. Maybe the Green Monster is next. Even if he doesn’t quite match a historical marker, he’s happy with a 441-foot upswing in production.

“I’ll take that,” Wood said with a laugh. “That usually plays.”