Star outfielder James Wood spoke with Nationals Media on February 16th about his first offseason with new coaching staff
Star outfielder James Wood of the Washington Nationals appeared before the media before spring training, where he spoke about his offseason process and the new staff.
This is the Nationals' first offseason with the new and young coaching staff led by 33-year-old manager Blake Butera, as well as many other new coaches, like 35-year-old hitting coach Matt Borgschulte and 30-year-old assistant hitting coach Andrew Aydt.
“It’s interesting. A couple of times, I’ve definitely mistaken a coach for a player, so that’s a little new,” said Wood, “But yeah, it’s great. They’re coming in with new ideas, a lot of energy, and it feels like a collaborative effort, which I think everybody can appreciate.”
“There’s an emphasis on getting everybody what they need, and they’re going to hold you accountable, for sure, but I think they just want to build a culture,” said Wood on how this atmosphere of this offseason compares to prior offseasons.
“Everyone’s trying to get the best out of each other and themselves, and we want to hold each other accountable.”
Wood shared that he split time training in DC and Florida throughout the offseason.
“[I’m] just trying to go out and learn new things and continue to develop a good base for myself so when things go south—which they will, it’s baseball—I have a stronger foundation to go back to.”
Wood had his longest season of baseball in 2025, where he finished with 157 appearances, but struggled through the latter half of the year. He made it a focus in training to prepare for the longer seasons.
“I did a lot of work with Harvey [Sharman] and one of our trainers at the stadium this offseason. It’s just all about building myself up, so I’m at my best for a full season,” said Wood.
With a lot of players and coaches putting a focus on pulling balls in recent years, Wood’s pull rate sticks out. Wood had a very low pull rate of 29.7% on all batted balls in 2025, according to Baseball Savant.
When asked about how or if he approached it as a problem with the coaching staff, he said, “I’ve talked to the staff, and I don’t really think that’s a part of my game–maybe it will be at some point.”
“I don’t think it's really anything that I have to force. I feel like driving the ball the other way just allows me to see the ball deeper and make better decisions, and not really sacrificing home run power.”