The most Gen Z team in the majors has found a couple of leaders

James Wood and C.J. Abrams sat in the Washington Nationals’ dugout on a weekday afternoon and let their gravitational pull take over. Within seconds, Daylen Lile moseyed over next to Wood. Then came Jacob Young and Nasim Nuñez. When Wood and Abrams rose, they did, too. The bench filled, and emptied, at their behest.

When they joke, others add on. When they hit, others tend to follow. There was a momentum to the conversation, however quiet it began.

“I feel like those kinds of things happen naturally,” Wood said of assuming leadership.

“It comes naturally,” Abrams said. “You’ve got to lead by example.”

Blake Butera, the team’s first-year manager, has never directly asked Abrams or Wood to fill the team’s leadership vacuum. Not when the Nationals failed to sign a position player to an MLB deal this winter. Not when they had an anemic offense this spring. Not even now, as the oldest Nationals player to take an at-bat this season is all of 28 years old.

Wood and Abrams have filled the void anyway, lifting the best offense in baseball. The ahead-of-schedule Nationals sat at 35-34 after taking two of three from the San Francisco Giants.

In a 4-3 victory last Monday, Wood scored the team’s only run off Giants starter Logan Webb. Abrams delivered the game-tying single with one out in the ninth. Wood was 3 for 5 in a 6-3 win Tuesday.

Wood is a most valuable player candidate with a .941 on-base plus slugging percentage; Abrams is close behind with his .905 OPS. Through Wednesday, Wood led MLB in runs; Abrams ranked third in runs batted in. Both are walking more, striking out less and hitting the ball harder.

The batting cages at Nationals Park are noisier. The nights are longer, as Wood, 23, and Abrams, 25, who is still in the thick of trade rumors, stay later and later while their teammates try to keep up.

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Last week, a shipment of gray T-shirts arrived at the Nationals’ clubhouse. The shirts featured one of the team’s more widespread images: Abrams’ face, with his mouth agape, as teammates showered his face with sunflower seeds after a home run. One player grabbed scissors and made one into a crop top. A couple of coaches slipped one on.

A few hours later in the dugout, the T-shirts became yet another thing Abrams and Wood could laugh about as they held court.

“I think not having vets this year, I think once you look around, you realize you kind of are that guy now, probably,” said Young, who was wearing one of the shirts.

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It is impossible to siphon Wood’s power. There is no lesson plan to teach Abrams’ athleticism. Neither views himself as a leader. But coaches and teammates have heard the nonchalant duo subtly instruct MLB’s most Gen Z offense using their advanced comprehension of the game.

When Lile made his MLB debut last year, he watched Wood’s cage routine and borrowed a drill that simplified the path his bat took to the ball. This year, Lile asks Wood more questions related to his approach, which often includes predictions for a pitcher’s game plan.

But why do teammates listen?

That question elicited a range of responses. Wood suggested his candor might be responsible. If Wood does not know how to solve a specific pitcher, he will not pretend he can. If he has an answer, he will not superimpose his swing onto another hitter. It is about as natural as coaching can be; neither Wood nor Abrams actively seeks out teammates.

Other Nationals naturally flock their way.

“Anything they need, anything I need, we got each other’s back,” Abrams said. “We’re all learning together here, day by day. We’re getting better. It’s just fun.”

Other players pointed toward other rationales. Many players look toward those who perform best, the same way anyone might in the workplace. There is a steady maturation and vulnerability. Abrams is present, teammates said this year, and Wood’s affable smile has emerged in more public settings. Some might call them swing doctors. And it does not hurt that the team’s three best hitters -- Abrams, Wood and Curtis Mead -- are often the last to leave at night.

“It’s just contagious,” Luis Garcia Jr. said through an interpreter. “I mean, you try to do it too, to try to have the season they’re having.”

“He’s not going to rah-rah you to death, but he will show you what he sees,” Young said of Abrams. “What he is looking for in a pitcher, for instance. What he feels. What he sees in your swing in the cages. Whatever he can, in a manner that is comfortable, to help his teammates win.”

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Butera said, “C.J. has been an absolute pro about how he’s gone about this. You see the rumors all the time -- whether it’s this offseason, whether it’s spring training, whether it’s now.”

After a series in early May, Lile asked Wood how he could extricate himself from a slump. Just a few more walks, Wood said, would be more helpful than trying to swing his way out of it. Over the next 10 games, Lile posted an OPS over 1.000. On Monday night, his go-ahead hit followed Abrams’ two-run knock. For the Giants series, he was 6 for 11 with five runs batted in. So perhaps there is a proof of concept, too.

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The Nationals are on a pace to have about 4,350 plate appearances come from players age 25 or younger, which would be the second most of any team in the last century. Their two leaders were still prospects in 2022 when they arrived in the Juan Soto trade.

But players and coaches said that, if anything, the youth has helped curate an authentic, genuine environment. Abrams, in particular, has done so under immense pressure related to trade rumors, which he cannot avoid.

“I’d imagine every team in baseball is going to want him,” Butera said. “We want him, too.

“We’re playing some pretty meaningful games and stressful games. But when you look at C.J. and Woody, they’re just going about their business. They’re having fun. They’re playing the game they love to play.

“We want our guys to feel that. We would much rather them be loose and playing free rather than being uptight or tense. And I think C.J. and Woody are the perfect two to kind of lead that charge.”

Or maybe, Wood said, authenticity is just what this sport elicits.

“I feel like baseball kind of brings it out of you,” Wood said. “You’re with everybody for 162 days. If you’re faking something, I mean, it’s going to be hard to fake it for an entire year.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 3:04 PM.