The Wood Life
James Wood (WSN): 3-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB.
Welcome to the Wood Life! James Wood has absolutely excelled this season, turning in career-best results across the board. He’s slashing an impressive .276/.413/.551 with a 168 wRC+, boasting the 2nd best xwOBA, 5th best BB%, and 7th best wRC+ in MLB. While the K% is still very much a concern, approaching 30% as we speak, the generational combination of taking ball four paired with freakish batted ball quality and enormous pop is something that outweighs the high miss rate at the moment.
Yesterday, Wood was electric, homering against Cleveland’s Joey Cantillo (109.8 EV / 401 FT) and later adding two singles against reliever Will Dion (89.9 and 111.1 mph, respectively). He’ll look to continue his hot start to the year in an excellent matchup against Gavin Williams at 1:10 pm EST today.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Tuesday…
Amed Rosario (NYY): 4-6, 2 HR, 3 R, 4 RBI.
Rosario is having a career year with the Yankees and that did not stop yesterday, homering twice and tallying four knocks (T-2nd most he’s had in a single game in his career). Rosario went deep in his first and last at-bats of the night — the first one coming off Bailey Falter (101.2 EV / 420 FT) and the next against Tyler Tolbert (99.3 EV / 381 FT). His two singles in between those bombs were hit even harder, at 103.6 and 108.8 mph, respectively. His 135 wRC+ is by far the best mark of his career and his xSLG (.472) indicates he’s actually underperforming in that department.
Mookie Betts (LAD): 3-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI.
A little power surge from Betts… finally! Betts was torching the baseball left and right yesterday, even generating hard hits on his outs. He left the yard twice, once off Kyle Freeland (100.7 EV / 404 FT) in the first inning, and later off Zach Agnos (98.6 EV / 377 FT) in the sixth. He also lined a 100.8 EV single off Freeland in between those at-bats. The 33-year-old’s wRC+ is slowly but surely on the rise, resting at 87 after yesterday’s action.
Evan Carter (TEX): 3-4, 3B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Carter, 23, has yet to find his groove since bursting onto the scene in the majors back in 2023, but yesterday he put his ceiling on display with a nifty three-hit game, finishing just a double shy of the cycle. His 95.1 EV triple in the first inning and 101.2 EV / 359 FT home run in the third both came against Jason Alexander. He later tallied a 95.2 EV single against a tough matchup in AJ Blubaugh.
Vaughn Grissom (LAA): 3-5, HR, R, 6 RBI.
As a Grissom truther through and through, it’s been awesome to watch the 25-year-old boost his stock in the spotlight once again. He’s slashing 233/.308/.379 with a 92 wRC+ — a major improvement from his 30 mark just two years ago — and he’s been doing all this while also improving his SwStr%. All three of his knocks yesterday were hit hard — a 96.6 EV single, a 100.1 EV single, 101.7 EV home run. Oh, and did I mention that home run just so happened to be a game-winning, go-ahead grand slam?! Hell yeah.
Michael Harris II (ATL): 4-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Harris has been such a major reason why Atlanta’s offense ranks inside the top 10 in nearly every notable category to start the year. He’s slashing .304/.332/.455 with a 141 wRC+ and already has 12 home runs, well on pace to set a new career-high. Harris absolutely picked apart Boston’s pitching staff last night, generating three hits off Ranger Suarez (81.8 EV single, 96.2 EV single, and a 102.7 EV double), then later went deep off Tyron Guerrero (104.1 EV / 423 F) to extend the lead.
Jesús Sánchez (TOR): 2-4, 2B, HR, R, 4 RBI.
Sanchez, 28, is in line to post career-highs in nearly every category. His 117 wRC+ is over the 110 mark for the first time since 2021 — but better yet, he’s seen major improvements in categories such as BA, K%, and wOBA. Not only did Sanchez crank a 108.7 EV / 394 FT home run, but he was also able to tally a 101.5 EV double off Sandy Alcantara yesterday. Safe to say this is a new version of the lefty slugger?
Isiah Kiner-Falefa (BOS): 2-3, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB, SB.
With a bit of consistent playing time after Trevor Story went down with an injury, IKF has slowly but surely seen his production tick up a notch. Entering play yesterday slashing .255/.321/.294 with a 75 wRC+, the 31-year-old smacked two hits (including a 98.3 EV / 393 FT home run) and nearly led a late-inning comeback against the red-hot Braves.
Esmerlyn Valdez (PIT): 1-4, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB.
Valdez, a toolsy outfielder from the Pirates’ system, had gone just 2-for-12 since making his major league debut entering play yesterday… yet both of those hits were home runs. He was able to belt yet another longball yesterday — a 105.5 EV / 415 FT shot off Jordan Wicks in the first inning en route to a blowout win against their division rival.
Munetaka Murakami (CHW): 1-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Murakami blasted his nineteenth home run of the season yesterday, entering play with a .235/.374/.540 slash line and 152 wRC+. The K% is still very much a problem — as is the swing-and-miss on a nightly basis — but given his power output, it’s a trade-off that both the White Sox and fantasy managers alike will be willing to accept.
