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With his first hit in his first MLB AB, Wood has a debut to remembe

With his first hit in his first MLB AB, Wood has a debut to remember

WASHINGTON — James Wood reached first base, broke out a smile and did the Nationals’ celebratory on-base dance. He looked happy. He looked at ease. He looked like he was where he was supposed to be.

Wood, ranked as the Nationals’ No. 1 prospect and MLB’s No. 3 overall, connected on a line drive to left field in his first Major League at-bat.

Just like that.

“[First-base coach Gerardo] Parra, he kind of said it after that: ‘Welcome to the Majo

rs,’” Wood said.

The 21-year-old Maryland native stepped up to the plate in the second inning of the Nationals’ 9-7 loss to the Mets to a roaring ovation from the home crowd of 26,719 at Nationals Park. Wood had never been at the center of a reception of that magnitude before, and he tried to approach it like another plate appearance. He worked a seven-pitch at-bat against Mets starter David Peterson in a lefty-lefty matchup, and when he saw a 93.9 mph sinker in the zone, he made contact.

Wood’s opposite-field single registered an exit velocity of 106.7 mph. For context, the league average exit velocity on singles is 90.7 mph. It also ranked in the 97th percentile of Nationals batted balls this season and had a hit probability of 61 percent.

When it comes to Nationals first career hits, Wood’s ranks as the second-hardest hit, behind only Juan Soto’s at 106.8 mph on May 21, 2018. The top five in that category is rounded out by Pedro Severino (106.4 mph, Sept. 20, 2015), Joey Meneses (105.9 mph, Aug. 2, 2022) and Jakson Reetz (104.8 mph, July 10, 2021).