'Farthest ball ever hit by a human': Behind James Wood's epic travel-ball HR

"I think I already know what video this is," James Wood said, smiling.

"Hey, look, you sent me that text -- I couldn't open the video," Andy Partin, Wood's high school travel baseball coach, said over the phone. "Was it the one where he hit that high fastball?"

Before James Wood became baseball's No. 2 prospect ... before he was called up by the Nationals this year to eventually help lead their young core back to the promised land ... before the 6-foot-7, 234-pound outfielder crushed his first big league home run earlier this month -- he hit another long, long ball that everyone who knows him well talks about to this day.

The pitch started out high and a teenaged Wood hit it even higher, launching it into the sky clear over a fence in right-center field. Hearing the reactions and yelps from his teammates, you'd think they'd just witnessed some giant explosion in front of their faces. Wood, breaking into his home run trot, had no idea how far it went.

But his coach, watching from the dugout, had seven words:

"Farthest ball ever hit by a human."

The year was 2020 and Wood was playing for the Dirtbags -- an elite travel team based out of Sedalia, N.C. He's described the summer as one of the most enjoyable times playing baseball.

“Playing with [the Dirtbags] was a lot of fun, because they kept it competitive while also keeping it fun, which is hard to [find] both in travel ball," Wood told Perfect Game.

The at-bat in question came during a big game with numerous scouts in attendance.

"I believe it was the first round of the playoffs at the Perfect Game 17-and-under national championship," Partin said. "We were playing a team called the elite squad out of Miami. Good team and they were throwing a good guy who was giving us a little bit of a fit."

The pitcher was Evan Demurias, a righty who pitched in the Appalachian League in 2022 and currently plays at Lander University. The Dirtbags mustered just seven hits all game and four runs. Even Wood had some trouble with Demurias early in the game.

"I had struck out a couple at-bats before," Wood said. "I think they were throwing offspeed."

But Wood would not let Demurias get him again.

While on-deck before the big plate appearance, Wood got some advice from a scout nearby:

"The dude's like, 'You know the best way to hit offspeed? Hit a fastball.'"

With that strange advice swimming around in his head as he dug into the box, Demurias fired in a fastball on the first pitch. It was high, high even for the 6-foot-7 Wood. Look at where the catcher would've caught it.

But the 17-year-old Wood demolished the ball, setting off absolute mayhem from everyone around the diamond.

"It was hit so high, it sounded like a shotgun went off," Partin said.

Derek Bender, the kid in the on-deck circle -- who looked like he'd just seen the sun explode -- recently talked to Yahoo Sports' Jake Mintz about the homer:

“That was where the legend of James Wood came alive. He didn’t get out that whole tournament,” Bender, a 2024 Twins Draft pick, said. “The kid is 6-foot-7, string bean at that point. He’s up there, no [batting gloves], hands are by his damn waist. And he never really swung at pitches up or in -- that’s really why I made that face.”

The self-described "chill" Wood acknowledged that he had some success those few days.

"Yeah, I had a pretty good week," he laughed.

Nobody's sure how far the dinger went, but his coach had a good answer.

"It's the farthest ball I've ever seen hit," Partin told me. "And I've coached 40 big leaguers."

If he had to guess a number, Partin would say it went at least 450 feet. Probably over the trees and off that white building at Kennesaw Mountain Field.

The homer helped Wood's team win the game, demoralizing the opponents.

"I think when you hit a ball like that, there's really no coming back from it," Partin said.

And the moment became something of a travel-ball fable -- the clip making the rounds on social media with commenters and first-hand accounts speculating how far and hard it was hit. It helped Wood get recognized by big league teams for the Draft in 2021 and eventually get picked by the Padres (he'd later get dealt to the Nationals as part of the blockbuster Juan Soto deal in 2022).

"That was the big talk," Partin recalled. "Going into the Draft, all the scouts brought that up and I would talk to them about it."

Partin has coached future MLB All-Stars like Wil Myers and Corey Seager, and he puts Wood right up there with them. A select group of "special, freaky athletes."

"He could really float in the outfield, always had good reads off the bat," Partin said. "He was special, because he would always play up to the competition. When the game was big, he was big."

For all the power and potential and tools Wood has in his makeup, his personality is about as low-key as you'll find. He's incredibly down to earth, for a guy who rises so high above it. It's refreshing, and likely helps him stay calm in clutch moments.

Asked how far he thought he hit his famous home run back in that halcyon summer with the Dirtbags, Wood said he didn't even realize it was a homer until he heard the yells from his teammates. In fact, the slugger -- showing his immense modesty -- seemed to have no idea the distance of any of his moonshots.

"I don't really know how far I can hit home runs," he said.

Far, James. Very far.