Introduction
Robert Alexander "Alex" Wood (born January 12, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Before playing professional baseball, Wood played for his high school team at Ardrey Kell High School and college baseball for the Georgia Bulldogs. He made his MLB debut during the 2013 season for the Atlanta Braves.
Amateur career
Wood attended Ardrey Kell High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Playing for the school's baseball team, he was named the North Carolina Class 4A player of the year in 2009.
He enrolled at the University of Georgia, where he played college baseball for the Georgia Bulldogs baseball team. Wood was redshirted during his first season at Georgia because he had required Tommy John surgery after his senior season of high school baseball. At Georgia, Wood had a 13-10 win-loss record and a 3.57 ERA in 32 games pitched. He struck out 180 batters and walked 47 in 204 1⁄3 innings.
Professional career
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves selected Wood in the second round of the 2012 MLB Draft. He played for the Rome Braves of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2012, where he pitched in 13 games, going 4-3 with a 2.22 earned run average (ERA) and 52 strikeouts. He began the 2013 season with the Mississippi Braves of the Class AA Southern League.
After pitching in ten games the first two months of the season and posting an ERA of 1.26, the Braves promoted him to the major leagues on May 30. That night, in his major league debut, he pitched the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays. Wood made his first major league start on June 18, 2013 where he allowed one run and earned his first loss. He was optioned to the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves on July 13, and was recalled on July 25. Wood had the third lowest earned run average, in the month of August 2013, of any rookie in MLB since 1955.
Wood finished the 2014 season with an 11-11 record and a 2.78 ERA in 171.2 innings with 170 strikeouts.
Los Angeles Dodgers
On July 30, 2015, in a three-team trade, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Wood, Mat Latos, Michael Morse, Bronson Arroyo, Jim Johnson, Luis Avilán, and José Peraza, while the Miami Marlins acquired minor league pitchers Victor Araujo, Jeff Brigham, and Kevin Guzman, and the Braves received Héctor Olivera, Paco Rodriguez, minor league pitcher Zachary Bird and a competitive balance draft pick for the 2016 MLB Draft. He joined the Dodgers starting rotation and was 5–6 with a 4.35 ERA in 12 starts for them.
Wood began 2016 in the Dodgers starting rotation. He made 10 starts in April and May and was 1–4 with a 3.99 ERA. On May 21 against the San Diego Padres he struck out a career high 13 batters in only six innings of work, the first Dodgers pitcher in history to have struckout that many in so few innings. However, he reported that he was not feeling 100% after a May 30 outing against the Chicago Cubs. An MRI exam the next day revealed a posterior impingement in his left elbow, requiring four weeks of rest, and he was placed on the disabled list. On June 16, he reported that the infringement subsided after he had some fluid drained from his elbow and he would be cleared to resume a throwing program a few days earlier than expected. He threw a simulated game against minor league hitters on July 16 and early reports were that it went well. However, shortly afterwards it was determined that he would need elbow debridement surgery, which would cause him to miss an additional two months. He did not rejoin the Dodgers roster until September 20. Overall, he appeared in 14 games for the Dodgers in 2016 (10 starts) and was 1–4 with a 3.73 ERA. The Dodgers did not carry Wood on their roster for the first round of the playoffs, but on October 15, he was added to their roster for the league championship series. He pitched two scoreless innings in that series. After the season, Wood signed a $2.8 million contract with the Dodgers for 2017, avoiding salary arbitration.
Pitching style
Wood pitches with a herky-jerky three-quarters delivery. He throws a four-seam fastball 91 to 95 miles per hour (146–153 km/h), a two-seam sinker 91 to 95 mph (146 to 153 km/h), a changeup 84 to 85 miles per hour (135–137 km/h), and a knuckle curve 79 to 81 miles per hour (127–130 km/h).