Mike Rizzo tells Junkies about 'supreme athlete' James Wood's 'great' MLB debut

The long-awaited MLB debut for the Washington Nationals top prospect James Wood got off to a rocket of a start: The 6-foot-7 outfielder smashed a single – coincidentally, 106.7 mph off the bat – in his first at-bat on Monday night off New York Mets' left-hander David Peterson.

"It was a great debut," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said during his weekly appearance on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.

"The fans came out, it was loud," Rizzo said of the atmosphere at Nats Park. "For an average Monday game that thing was electric and it was a great crowd. And he didn't disappoint, he got on base three times, he smoked a couple of balls, one for a hit and he showed off his speed with the swinging bunt and then taking second base. He's done a lot of things."

Even though some reports leaked out about Wood's imminent call-up to the bigs ahead of his debut on Monday, Rizzo said the plan was always to give the prospect his first taste of action at the start of Washington's long homestand.

"The thought process behind it was he had done all the prerequisites and things that we wanted him to work on in Triple-A," the GM told the Junkies. "We wanted him to get about 200 at-bats, we wanted him to see some left-handed pitching, we wanted him to play all three outfield positions and you can't learn that at the big league level.

"So once he dominated that league and we saw this guy was progressing quickly and did everything we asked him, he had earned the promotion and the right to get to the big leagues. So, here he is!"

Rizzo added that now that Wood a major leaguer, he'll be "learning on the fly."

"We didn't exactly ease him into his big league career, facing three lefties in his first four games," Rizzo said referring to the Mets starting left-handers on Monday and Tuesday with lefty Jose Quintana scheduled for Thursday. "But he gets a righty today, so that's good."

Wood may have had one of his first 'welcome to the Show' moments in left field in the sixth inning on Tuesday night when he lost a sinking liner off Pete Alonso's bat and played it off a hop for a single. Rizzo said those things happen – Alonso was stranded at first – as the 21-year-old learns a "relatively new position" and adjusts to his surroundings in a new stadium.

"He's a supreme athlete and he's gonna adjust to it quickly, he's a terrific, Gold Glove-caliber center fielder. So he's gonna be a great left fielder, also," the GM told the Junks.