Testing out the corners: Wood taking reps in right field

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- What's old is new again for the Nats' budding young star James Wood.

Solely a left fielder and DH in his brief Major League career, Wood is getting a shot to prove himself as a right fielder this spring, starting there in two of his three Grapefruit League games thus far.

“Not sure why he just needs to be in left field,” manager Blake Butera said. “He's a pretty good athlete. He's young. He has a good arm. I want to give him an opportunity to be able to play both, if it comes to that -- not necessarily pigeonhole him in one spot.”

Wood isn't a stranger to right field. He played there --and even some center field -- while coming up through the Minors.

“I mean, after playing left the past couple years, it's definitely a little bit of an adjustment," Wood said. "But I feel like throughout my whole life, [I] feel like I've had more innings there in right, so it's not as much of an adjustment going back there."

Butera categorized Wood – known for his thumping offense -- as being “hungry” to improve his defense.

“He wants to get better defensively, which has obviously been a big talking point around him,” Butera said.

Wood will continue to get starts in both corner outfield spots, but as the Nationals get closer to breaking camp, Butera expects Wood to focus more on one position.

“Not sure what that spot is going to be yet, but that's something we're going to figure out over this next couple of weeks,” Butera said.

Butera would ideally like to see Wood play both corner spots as needed once the season begins.

While Wood is attempting to provide some defensive flexibility, it's the electricity in his bat that will keep the athletic youngster in the lineup most days.

Last year, Wood started the season fast, belting nine homers and driving in 21 runs before the calendar flipped to May. An impressive 13 more homers came before the start of July, earning Wood his first All-Star selection.

But Wood didn't deliver that level of performance after the All-Star break, homering only nine times from July-September. Meanwhile, his strikeouts increased as his batting average dipped. Wood ended the season with a .256 average while leading the National League with 221 strikeouts. He had hit .264 in roughly half a season following his initial call-up the year prior.

Wood is looking to strike out less this season, but Butera doesn't want him to alter his approach too radically.

“I don't think we're going to see any extreme change in strikeouts,” Butera said. “A lot of really good hitters that hit a ton of home runs also strike out a lot. And part of what makes James a really good hitter is the fact that he can impact the ball the way he does. So we definitely don't want to sacrifice some of that just to lower the strikeouts by a little bit now.”

Feeling he wore down as last season dragged on, Wood emphasized increasing his lower-body strength during the offseason, intent on staying fresh in the second half.

Wood hasn't enjoyed success in a Grapefruit League game yet this spring -- he'd walked twice without recording a hit in six Spring Training at-bats -- but he has crushed a couple of homers during live batting practice sessions, much to the enjoyment of his teammates.

“His BP is definitely fun to watch,” center fielder Jacob Young said.

Despite not yet reaching his 24th birthday, Wood still somewhat qualifies as a veteran presence in a Nationals clubhouse whose first rebuild began in earnest with the trade that brought him to Washington as part of the Juan Soto deal.

“I just try and be myself out here -- just try and be there for my teammates and just be myself,” said Wood, the concept of being one of the Nationals' veterans eliciting a chuckle.

That approach suits Butera just fine.

“He wants to be really good,” Butera said. “He wants this team to be really good. He really cares about the Washington Nationals. He grew up and lives not too far from from D.C. I think his parents get out to a lot of games. He really cares about this team, about this organization, about this franchise and wants them to be great. So he wants to do the right thing.

"He wants to be a leader. At the end of the day, we want James Wood to be James Wood, whether that's him as a leader or him as just James Wood. Either way, we're happy. We don't need to force anything.”