The 23-year-old has yet to play right field in a regular MLB game. Wood had just over 400 innings there in the minor leagues. He was exclusively a left fielder or design hitter during his season and a half in the Majors.
Nats manager Blake Butera has made no statements regarding a position change. It wouldn’t hurt to reintroduce Wood to the position, even if he’s slated to see the majority of his regular-season work on the left side. The Nationals made sure he didn’t get any action in right field during Spring Training 2025.
Daylen Lile was the primary right fielder after emerging in May. Lile hit the ground running offensively, hitting .299/.347/.498 through his first 91 MLB games. On the other side of the ball it was a different story. Lile was one of the worst defensive outfielders in the league. He’s a good athlete with plus speed, but turned a handful of easy outs into hits with poor routes or questionable decisions to drop catchable balls in front of him.
Lile made 21 starts in left field and 52 in right field. He did not score well in either position. Wood has also had poor defensive stats, although not to the same extent. If the Nationals feel he is the better cornerback of the two, they might prefer to have Wood in right field against left-handed lineups. They all get a fair amount of DH work too.
Dylan Crews can play anywhere in the outfield, although he doesn’t have much left field experience in pro ball. Jacob Jong is easily the team’s best outfield defender. He plays in the middle when he is in the lineup, but fits best in a fourth outfield role because of his light bat.
However the outfield arranges itself, these four players all enter camp with assured spots on the MLB roster. That doesn’t apply to many players on the pitching staff. Free agent signees Miles Mikolas And Foster Griffin participate Cavalli falls And Josiah Gray as likely members of the season-opening rotation. Gray missed all of last season while recovering from internal brace surgery in July 2024. Cavalli returned from his own Tommy John surgery last year. He made 10 starts late in the season and pitched to a 4.25 ERA over 48 2/3 innings.
Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner wrote this week about the pitchers’ respective rehabilitation processes. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni told reporters that Cavalli is “full go” this spring. This may also involve an adjustment of the repertoire.
The 27-year-old Righty said he worked with pitching coaches Simon Mathews and Sean Doolittle to record a sweeper. Cavalli’s main breaking ball is an 80mph knuckle curve that has more of a vertical shape. A sweeper would give him something with an east-west profile that allows him to run away from right-handed hitters. Cavalli threw two scoreless innings in his exhibition debut this week.
Gray has yet to appear in a Spring Training game, although he is expected to be fully rebuilt by Opening Day. If he secures the fourth starter role, one spot will remain open for an inclusive group Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, Brad Lord, Andreas Alvarez And Jake Eder.
Veteran right-handed Trevor Williams is halfway through his own surgical rehabilitation. He underwent an internal brace procedure last July and is expected to be out at least through the All-Star Break. If Mark Zuckerman of Nats Journal recently wrote that Williams paused his throwing program and turned to imaging as a precaution after experiencing some elbow pain last weekend. It is common for pitchers to have breaks along the way when returning from an elbow ligament procedure. Butera downplayed the team’s concerns Saturday, though the Nationals did not provide details on the MRI results.
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