WASHINGTON -- James Wood took a Little League grand slam to Major League proportions.
The home-run slugger recorded his first career grand slam in iconic inside-the-park fashion in Tuesday’s 9-6 comeback victory over the Mets at Nationals Park.
“I was hype,” Wood said. “Everyone was hype. It was fun. Everyone was celebrating.”
The Nationals were trailing 5-0 in the second inning when Wood stepped to the plate against Nolan McLean with the bases loaded. The 23-year-old clocked a first-pitch sweeper from McLean a Statcast-projected 379 feet toward the Mets' bullpen.
Left fielder Nick Morabito -- a McLean, Va., native making his Major League debut -- and center fielder Tyrone Taylor converged for the ball.
But the 101.3 mph fly ball bounced off the glove of Morabito, and he slammed into the wall and onto the warning track.
“He hit it pretty hard,” Morabito said. “I went back and just missed it. It hit the palm of my hand. I should have had it.”
Taylor paused momentarily. He looked at his teammate on the ground and then lifted his head toward the bullpen, seemingly unaware of where the ball landed.
“He lost track of the baseball,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Taylor. “He went after it, and then he didn't know where the ball was. That's a tough break there.”
Morabito bounced up and chased after the ball once he realized it had rolled into center field. Wood recognized his window of opportunity.
“When I saw that, I knew I was full-on sprint home,” Wood said. “That’s probably why my eyes got big there.”
The 6-foot-6 Wood dashed around the bases at a sprint speed of 29.4 feet per second. For reference, 30 feet per second is considered “elite.”
“When he’s able to do that, it sends a message and a tone throughout the rest of the group of, 'Keep going, take the extra base, run hard' -- you never know what’s going to happen,” manager Blake Butera said. “Now he’s got a grand slam. It looks in the stat sheet like he hit it 450 feet. All that stuff matters.”
By the time the Mets executed their relay, Wood already was approaching home. He safely slid headfirst into home plate for the inside-the-park grand slam.
If you weren’t watching the field, you could have missed it: Wood ran from home to home in just 15.15 seconds.
“It was huge, just the momentum, the excitement from the crowd, the dugout, everybody,” said Butera. “It just felt like it was a huge turning point in the game. One swing of the bat cuts the game from 5-0 to 5-4 just like that that early in the game. It felt like we were just right back in it.”
There have only been three inside-the-park grand slams in the past 10 years, and two of them belong to Nationals players.
Michael A. Taylor connected on the first in team history (2005-present) on Sept. 8, 2017, against the Phillies. That night, Taylor drove in Daniel Murphy, Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Wieters with a line drive to center field off Jake Thompson.
Raimel Tapia also hit one on July 22, 2022, as a member of the Blue Jays against the Red Sox.
“I didn’t think [my first grand slam] was going to be like this,” said Wood. “But it was a fun way to get it.”