
Despite not being an All-Star finalist, Washington Nationals star James Wood got shown the ultimate sign of respect
The Washington Nationals won a wild 7-4 11 inning affair to get their first series win of the month. There were a lot of crazy storylines, from Drew Millas’ big day to Kyle Finnegan’s heroic 3 inning outing. However, the story of the afternoon was how the Angels did not pitch to superstar James Wood.
After hitting a single in the first and grounding out in the fourth, the Angels decided they had seen enough of James Wood. They would not give him any chances to do any damage. In a wild move, the intentionally walked Wood four straight times. He is the first player to be intentionally walked four times since Barry Bonds.
James Wood’s last 4 plate appearances:
Intentional Walk
Intentional Walk
Intentional Walk
Intentional WalkFirst player with 4 IBB in a game since Barry Bonds. pic.twitter.com/IPSEL4tdPW
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) June 29, 2025
Wood joined an exclusive club of players who have been intentionally walked four times. The players in that club are Bonds, Roger Maris, Andre Dawson, Manny Ramirez and Gary Templeton. Now Wood is in that great group.
players intentionally walked FOUR times in a game:
andre dawson, barry bonds, roger maris, manny ramirez, gary templeton+ JAMES WOOD pic.twitter.com/0btkJPd2RD
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) June 29, 2025
The crazy thing about this gambit from the Angels is that it worked. They accomplished their intended goal. Of course they did not win the game, but Wood did not score a run. The guys behind him did not make the Angels pay for putting Wood on base.
With this in mind, it will be interesting to see if other teams try this. Wood does not have a whole lot of protection behind him. One way of getting him more protection would be to put leadoff man CJ Abrams behind him. However, that could throw off the dynamic of the lineup.
The one incident like this in Nationals history came back in 2016. In a series against the Cubs, Joe Maddon wanted nothing to do with Bryce Harper. He kept walking over and over again. Cubs pitchers did not want to mess with Bryce.
Seven years ago today Bryce Harper tied an MLB record with six walks in one game. He became the first known player to reach base seven times without recording an at-bat
Bryce looked at 27 pitches without swinging once pic.twitter.com/n33ZNAJrZ4
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 8, 2023
This episode is a cautionary tale for Wood. Famously, this series ruined Bryce Harper’s 2016 season. After an MVP year in 2015 and a red hot start in 2016, Bryce was thrown off by not being pitched to. His OPS fell from 1.109 to .814 and his average dropped from .330 to .243.
Bryce was thrown off by this craziness by Joe Maddon. Wood needs to avoid letting this happen to him. It seems less likely to happen to him because he is such an even keeled player while Bryce was such an emotional guy on the field.
However, he needs to learn his lesson from those that have gone through this in the past. This should also be a wake up call for Mike Rizzo. The Nats need a big bat in the middle of the lineup to protect Wood. Nathaniel Lowe was brought in to help out with that, but in reality, he is more of a 5 or 6 hitter rather than a 3 or 4 man.
Hopefully teams do not replicate what the Angels did because we want to see Wood hit. Fans are not coming to see him jog to first base. They want to see those tape measure shots. However, it is understandable that opposing managers do not want that to happen. Today, the Angels decided the best course of action was to just walk him.