A look at Trey Lipscomb’s rise and your best guess as to which prospect will get the call next…
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Towards the end of Spring Training, the Washington Nationals optioned most of their top prospects to minor league camp after impressive springs for some of the highly-regarded next-gen Nats.
James Wood, in particular, stood out in Grapefruit League action, posting a .364/.509/.705 line, one double, a triple, four homers, 11 walks, and 13 Ks in 22 games before the club sent him out out to prepare for the minor league season.
“Wood is probably going to go to Triple-A and just continue to get better,” manager Davey Martinez said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman in late March. “This kid is really good.
“I just want him to get at-bats. I tell him all the time, just continue to take his walks, get the ball up when he hits and just try to play the best defense he can.
“He’s going to play center, he’s going to play left. I told him on occasion he might play right field. I want him to be ready at all three.”
You never know where there will be a need at the big league level when he does get the call so the Nationals like to make sure their prospects who are capable of playing multiple spots are prepared to handle all of them.
Wood, 21, was a 2021 2nd Round pick by the San Diego Padres who came over in the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade in 2022. In his first full season in Washington’s system, Wood put up a .262/.353/.520 line, 28 doubles, six triples, and 26 home runs in 129 games and 594 plate appearances between High-A and Double-A Harrisburg
He finished the year as a Senator, so the Nationals sent him to Triple-A Rochester to start the 2024 campaign.
Through his first three games with the top minor league affiliate, Wood is still hitting, going 4 for 10 with a double, five walks, and three Ks in 15 PAs.
MLB Pipeline’s scouts have a 2024 ETA for Wood’s arrival in the majors, and the voters in our latest SB Nation Reacts poll believe he’ll be the next top prospect in the organization to get the call to The Show:
And here’s are the national SB Nation Reacts results for the week:
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