Link to Condensed Version on The Red & Black
Olivia Sayer
Alex Wood throws a pitch while playing for The University of Georgia. (Photo Courtesy/EVAN STICHLER/Staff).
When the Oakland Athletics take the field on Opening Day, there will be a former Georgia baseball standout on the mound.
Alex Wood will get the start in the Athletics’ first game of the season, manager Mark Kotsay announced Tuesday. The honor will be Wood’s first in his 11-year MLB career.
“It was awesome telling Alex,” Kotsay said. “You could see the emotion that he was feeling. He’s been on rosters to be able to do it for the last 11 years, so it was great to reward him. We targeted him this offseason. He wanted to come here and pitch. Everything just felt right about this.”
Wood was a student-athlete for Georgia from 2010-2012, after which he got drafted by his hometown Atlanta Braves. While in Athens, Wood compiled a 13-10 record with 30 career starts for the Bulldogs.
In his first season with Georgia, Wood saw limited playing time due to recovering from a Tommy John surgery he received in high school. He only pitched two-thirds of an inning and was resultantly granted a medical redshirt.
A season removed from the injury, Wood had a respectable campaign in 2011. He toed the rubber for 101 innings with the Bulldogs, en route to a 4.44 ERA. Wood’s 15 starts allowed him to develop into an SEC-caliber starter, as showcased by his performance in the SEC Tournament.
Wood’s most memorable moment of the season occurred in late May at Regions Field. Facing potential elimination, Wood’s first career complete game ended Auburn’s season, while keeping the Bulldogs’ alive. His performance set the stage for a record-breaking redshirt sophomore campaign.
During the 2012 season as a redshirt sophomore, Wood was Georgia’s ace. He led the Bulldogs in starts and innings pitched, while having the third-lowest ERA of all the arms on Georgia’s staff. A 2.73 ERA was the lowest by a Georgia starter in 24 years, while a record of 7-3 led the team.
Wood’s breakout season earned him second team All-Southeastern Conference honors and had MLB scouts jumping at the possibility to draft him. Georgia’s head coach at the time David Perno offered high praise for his starter.
“Where do I see him? I see him as a big leaguer,” Perno said, prior to the MLB draft. “Whether he helps them as a starter or whether he helps them as a bullpen guy, either way if that kid can stay healthy, he’ll pitch in the big leagues. He’s got too much stuff, too much between his ears and is just doing it for the right reasons.”
Many scouts were high on Wood, as MLB listed him as its No. 42 overall prospect. It was a foregone conclusion that the former Bulldog would be selected in the first few rounds. However, the city he would begin his professional career in was unclear.
“With the 85th overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft, the Atlanta Braves select Alex Wood.”
As they tend to do, the Braves selected a hometown prospect to add to their ballclub. Wood, who was raised in Charlotte, would now have a chance to play for the team he grew up cheering for.
After posting a 1.26 ERA with 57 strikeouts in Double-A, Wood got the call-up to the majors in May 2013. A few days later, he made his MLB debut at Turner Field. Wood’s seven-pitch scoreless ninth inning secured Atlanta’s 11-3 win against Toronto and provided Wood with a moment he will cherish forever.
“I was fortunate to get in there at the end, it was pretty special,” Wood said. “When I walked out there, I heard some [Georgia] fans barking and everyone cheering. It was a pretty neat moment. I wish everybody could experience the feeling I had tonight at some point in their lives.”
Pitching for his hometown team was a dream come true for Wood. However, everyone must wake up from a dream eventually, and in 2015, he was shipped off to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a complicated 3-team trade.
Wood had a breakout year with the Dodgers in 2017. He was named an MLB All-Star for the National League and ended the season with a 16-3 record and a 2.72 ERA. Wood’s performance helped the Dodgers to a record of 104-58, before losing the World Series in seven games to the Houston Astros. The Astros were later busted for a cheating scandal involving illegal sign-stealing taking place during the 2017 postseason, but the result remained.
After the 2018 season, the Dodgers traded Wood to the Cincinnati Reds as part of a salary dump. After an injury-plagued season limited him to seven games with the Reds, Wood re-signed with the Dodgers prior to the covid-shortened 2020 season.
Nine months later, he was pitching in the World Series.
Two perfect innings with three strikeouts helped the Dodgers win the title 3-1 over the Tampa Bay Rays in six games. One series prior, Wood provided 2.2 innings of one-run ball, as the Dodgers came back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Braves.
“From the bottom of my heart, I came back here to win a World Series,” Wood said prior to the season. “There’s plenty of other places I could have gone. There were safer choices for me, as far as my personal future and being able to stick in the rotation, but I’ve invested a lot to the city of [Los Angeles], to this organization.”
Despite being an established major leaguer, Wood still keeps in touch with those in Athens. Former head coach Scott Stricklin, who he exchanged texts with prior to the World Series, said Wood is a person that many of his players looked up to.
“Anyone that knows Alex knows what kind of kid he is,” Stricklin said in 2020. “He is just a really, really good person— cares about his family, cares about his alma mater, loves Athens, loves Georgia, loves to be a part of it, and he’s not going to go Hollywood. There’s no question about it. Just like anybody, when you get a taste of [MLB], it’s a lot of fun to be a part of. But he is a very humble, very grounded person, very smart. Just an all-around good person.”
After securing his World Series ring, Wood signed with the San Francisco Giants, a division rival of the Dodgers. He was reunited with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who was the Dodgers general manager when they traded for him in 2015.
“I’m glad that this time the acquisition was a little simpler, a one-year Major League contract,” Zaidi said. “The trade that we made with the Braves to acquire him in L.A. had a lot of moving parts to it, so this is a much more straightforward transaction.”
Wood stayed with the Giants until this past offseason, when he opted to sign with the team located on the other side of the Bay Bridge. In February, the Athletics signed Wood to a one-year deal worth $8.5 million.
Now, he will make his first Opening Day start.
“The longer you go, there’s not usually a lot of firsts left to be had after so many years,” Wood said. “There’s nothing cooler than to be able to go out there and throw in the first game of the year for your team. It’s just a big honor, and I’m super, super excited.”