Eric Wood

Eric Elliot Wilson Wood

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 210 lb.

• School Blinn College
• High School Pickering High School

• Born November 22, 1992 in Toronto, ON USA

BR register page

Biographical Information

Eric Wood has played as high as AAA and has been on the Canadian national team.

The Oakland Athletics took him in the 37th round of the 2011 amateur draft, one pick before Alex Blandino, but opted for college. He hit .318 at Blinn College in 2012. The Pittsburgh Pirates then selected him in the 6th round of the 2012 amateur draft, one round after Adrian Sampson and one before Jacob Stallings. He was the first Canadian taken that year, going one round before David Otterman and three rounds before the next position player, Rowan Wick. The signing scout was Trevor Haley.

He hit .287/.371/.467 in his pro debut for the GCL Pirates then was 5 for 11 with 3 doubles in the postseason as they won their first Gulf Coast League title in their 43-year history. He had a late promotion to the State College Spikes, going 4 for 20 there. In 2013, he batted .255/.314/.360 for the West Virginia Power, fielding only .873 with 28 errors. He improved his glovework in 2014, fielding .918 for the Bradenton Marauders and producing at a .271/.345/.393 clip with 28 doubles. He tied Dwight Smith Jr. and Daniel Vogelbach for 9th in the Florida State League in doubles. He led FSL third basemen in assists (236), errors (27) and double plays (25). Among Pirates farmhands, only Chris McGuiness and Max Moroff had more two-baggers.

With the 2015 Altoona Curve, Wood put up a .237/.303/.305 batting line. He tied Yandy Diaz, Dustin Lawley and Mitch Delfino for the most errors (21) at the hot corner. He returned to Altoona in 2016 and fared much better - .249/.339/.443 on offense, .948 in the field, 16 home runs. He led Eastern League third basemen in games played (113), putouts (72) and double plays (19). He tied Dean Green and Stetson Allie for 7th in the EL in dingers. Among Pirate minor leaguers, he tied Allie and Tito Polo for 2nd in homers, one behind Danny Ortiz. He was named the EL All-Star third baseman and Baseball America named him the best defensive third baseman in the circuit. He had a busy winter, hitting .330/.388/.489 for the Surprise Saguaros and .202/.337/.357 for the Gigantes del Cibao. He was 6th in the Arizona Fall League in average, between Brandon Dixon and JaCoby Jones and 9th in slugging, just ahead of fellow Canadian Tyler O'Neill. He led with 20 RBI, two ahead of Zach Vincej and Carson Kelly.

Wood then made the Canadian national team for the first time, for the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Not only that, but he was their starter at third base. Hitting 5th, 3rd and 2nd in their three games, he was 2 for 12 with his hits coming off Carlos Martinez and Julio Teheran. He did fine in his AAA debut, batting .238/.311/.438 with 16 home runs for the Indianapolis Indians. He was expanding his defensive role, adding 1B and the corner outfield to his resume with David Freese holding down third with the 2017 Pirates. Wood was third in the Bucs chain in home runs (behind Jordan Luplow and Logan Hill) and 6th with 182 total bases (between Kevin Newman and Cole Tucker).

With Pittsburgh adding Colin Moran in the off-season, the future did not look bright for Eric to make the Bucs as a third baseman. He was mostly in the outfield in 2018, but again saw action in the corner infield slots. He improved his batting line with Indianapolis to .269/.328/.481 (also appearing briefly with the West Virginia Black Bears on an injury rehab stint). He was back with Canada for the 2019 Pan American Games Qualifier, homering off the Dominican national team's Ramón García and cracking a grand slam against Nicaragua's Berman Espinosa. He hit .278/.316/.667 for the event and Canada won a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games. He tied for second in the qualifiers in homers (behind Garabez Rosa) and tied for 4th with two errors.

Wood would start the 2019 season in Taiwan, going 7 for 19 in the preseason for the Chinatrust Brothers. When he was 0 for 9 to open the 2019 CPBL campaign, though, he was surprisingly let go. There were rumors of physical and other conflict with manager Scott Budner, with Budner allegedly attacking Wood after a game. He was picked back up by Pittsburgh for another season with Indianapolis. Splitting right field with Trayvon Robinson and others, he hit .247/.319/.414.

He left Indianapolis for a month mid-season to represent Canada in the 2019 Pan American Games. He had three hits in a victory over Cuba and had a solid tournament at .375/.429/.417 with 6 runs and 4 RBI in 6 games, though he fielded .895 at third. He tied Derwin Pomare and Christian Correa for third in the Games in runs and was second on Canada in average, behind Tristan Pompey. He hit cleanup for Canada in the Gold Medal Game but was 0 for 4 and made an error in a loss to Puerto Rico as Canada at least won a Silver.