{"id":470463,"date":"2026-02-12T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T15:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/470463\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T15:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T15:52:09","slug":"oneil-cruz-james-wood-primed-for-massive-breakouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/470463\/","title":{"rendered":"Oneil Cruz, James Wood primed for massive breakouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

Pitchers and catchers have headed for warmer pastures; it\u2019s time to lock and load your accounts with futures bets. <\/p>\n

As we move past the NFL season, it\u2019s time to begin thinking about baseball<\/a> betting.<\/p>\n

With pitchers and catchers reporting on Wednesday and a bizarre number of injuries being announced by teams, we can capitalize on some intriguing spots for breakouts.<\/p>\n

Notably, we\u2019re looking at the most exciting moments in the game \u2013 the big fly. <\/p>\n

Home run bets are, in my opinion, easy to project based on exit velocity and launch angle from the past season, and who could breakout in 2026.<\/p>\n

2025 MLB predictions<\/p>\n

Oneil Cruz 30+ home runs (+255, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I mentioned earlier that exit velocity is a key component of my betting philosophy when targeting players who are likely to hit significant home run numbers. Look no further than Cruz, who led the entire major league in average exit velocity last season.<\/p>\n

His average 95.8 MPH exit velocity off the bat is ahead of Aaron Judge<\/a> (95.4) and Shohei Ohtani (94.9).<\/p>\n

Where things get dicey for Cruz is his launch angle, which comes in at 8.1 degrees over his career. <\/p>\n

Basically, he hits the ball hard, but he\u2019s hit too many ground balls to become a legitimate elite power hitter.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s reason for optimism to come here for Cruz, who hit 20 home runs last year and 21 the year before.<\/p>\n

Cruz improved his launch angle last year to 16.4 degrees early in 2025, where he hit eight home runs through the month of April.<\/p>\n

Between a back injury and pitcher adjustments, Cruz struggled to keep up the strong home run production from June through the rest of the season. <\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s profile as an elite home run threat is too great to ignore. His over\/under total comes in at 21.5 home runs, a strong bet as well. But we\u2019ll take 30+ at a big number as he\u2019s one of the most talented players in baseball who just needs a bit of guidance from the coaching staff to put it all together.<\/p>\n

\"AIt\u2019s just a matter of time until James Wood becomes an elite home run hitter. Getty Images<\/p>\n

James Wood over 25.5 home runs (-113, FanDuel)<\/p>\n

Maybe the best player in baseball that you have not heard about yet. James Wood has a tantalizing speed and power combination for the Nationals that should bring him into baseball\u2019s elite beforelong.<\/p>\n

Washington, whose roster certainly needs some help from top to bottom, will be fine as long as they don\u2019t trade CJ Abrams, among others, to help protect Wood. <\/p>\n

I like Wood to go over his modest home run total for similar reasons that I like Cruz.<\/p>\n

Learn all you need to know about MLB Betting<\/p>\n

Wood had a 94.3 average exit velocity, ahead of Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, Rafeal Devers and many of the other home run kings that you think of.<\/p>\n

Wood is also 6-foot-7, 234 pounds. <\/p>\n

So while his launch angle of just 6.3 degrees is very low, that shouldn\u2019t stay that way for long as he grows into the big leagues. <\/p>\n

This guy is a behemoth when he steps into the batter\u2019s box and hits balls a long way. <\/p>\n

Expect Wood to break out in 2026 with a big year, and hit many, many home runs for a Nationals team that could be sneaky in a crowded NL East.<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he\u2019s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[6359,49,48,462,17183,509,82,6452,29055,3968],"class_list":{"0":"post-470463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-betting","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-betting","13":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sports-betting","16":"tag-sports-picks","17":"tag-washington-nationals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}