It’s becoming increasingly difficult for the Washington Nationals' front office to justify keeping James Wood in Triple-A Rochester, especially after he was named International League Player of the Month for May. Today's announcement is particularly impressive since the top Nationals prospect has been out of the Red Wings lineup for the past few games due to tightness in his right hamstring.

The 21-year-old James Wood led the league in average (.394), on-base percentage (.506), slugging percentage (.746), and OPS (1.252). He walked more times (17) than he struck out (13), recorded eight multi-hit games, and had a 12-game hitting streak from May 3-16.

Wood was also named International League Player of the Week for May 3-12. In the six games during that series, he hit .455 (10-for-22), slugging five home runs and a double while driving in 12 RBIs against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (NYY).

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Rochester Red Wings Manager Matt LeCroy said, “James Wood, International League Player of the Month, well deserved! He can't do much more in a short period of time than he did. [I am] Really happy with him. He's progressing in the right direction and continues to improve and prove everybody's deserving of a shot to play the big leagues at some point. Hopefully, we can get him back very quickly and get him up to the big leagues,” about Wood’s development and impressive numbers during May.

As of tonight, Wood is hitting an impressive .355/.465/.596 with an OPS of 1.062, nine home runs, 31 RBIs, and ten stolen bases this season.

Despite many Nationals fans growing impatient with the front office’s reluctance to promote Wood to the Major Leagues, they may need to wait a bit longer.

Wood is still recovering from his hamstring tightness. Nationals manager Davey Martinez commented a few weeks ago about wanting Wood to "get a bunch of at-bats...He needs to learn some different things. We want him to get better against left-handed pitching. We want him to understand the baserunning stuff. All that stuff." This injury might delay his promotion.

For now, Nationals fans eager to see James Wood will have to wait longer. In the meantime, they can watch him on MiLB.tv or stream via the MLB app on your Smart TV or the MiLB app on your smartphone.

The Triple-A Rochester Red Wings will be featured as the MiLB free game tomorrow as they face the Worcester Red Sox, with the first pitch at 12:15 p.m. You can watch tomorrow’s game on MLB.com and MiLB.com.

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