James Wood is in a bit of a slump this week, but this matchup presents a good opportunity to bounce back. He has a .931 OPS and 15 home runs this season against right-handed pitchers. Brandon Woodruff was sharp in his first start back from Tommy John surgery, allowing just 1 ER with 8 strikeouts, but his velocity was down. That's often a sign of potential regression, especially for a pitcher returning after two years. We set Wood's line at +295 to homer today.

Brandon Woofruff struck out eight batters in what was his first MLB start since 2023 but 6.5 is too high of a line in start #2. He threw just 70 pitches and with his velocity down, he should get knocked around sooner rather than later. I'll admit though, early on he has the advantage of uncertainty and he's throwing a new cutter so things can get sketchy here if that pitch is working well. Something interesting though is that two of the strikeouts in that last start were looking on great pitches that barely caught the zone and Woodruff get's Alfonzo Marquez behind the plate today, who grades out as one of MLB's most hitter friendly umpires.

Brandon Woodruff is making just his 2nd start of the season. He is likely to be on a pitch count. This is also a difficult matchup against a Nationals team that doesn’t strike out much.