Travis Wood (1987–)

Travis Wood is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who reached the peak of the baseball world in 2016 as a member of the Chicago Cubs team that won the club’s first World Series Championship since 1908, ending a drought of 108 years.

Travis Alan Wood was born on February 6, 1987, in Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Jay and Dena Wood. Travis grew up in Bryant (Saline County), where he starred for the Bryant High School baseball team. The left-handed pitcher led Bryant High School to the state championship game, in which they were beaten by North Little Rock High School, in his junior year in 2004. He was the recipient of the Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year Award in both 2004 and 2005. Wood graduated from Bryant High in 2005 and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the second round of that year’s MLB June amateur draft.

Wood began his professional baseball career in the summer of 2005 when he was assigned to the Billings Mustangs, the Reds’ Rookie Class team in the Pioneer League. He compiled a record of 2–0 with an ERA of 1.82 in 24 2/3 innings in six games, four of which he started. He was soon sent to the Reds affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, another Rookie Class team. There, he was even more effective, posting an ERA of .75 in 24 innings while starting seven of the eight games in which he appeared. In 2006, Wood spent the whole season with the Class A Dayton Dragons. He compiled a record of 10–5 with an ERA of 3.66 in 140 innings while starting 27 games.

In 2007, he was promoted to the Reds Class A+ affiliate in Sarasota, Florida, but a stint on the disabled list from July 10 to September 14 hindered his progress. He was back in Sarasota to start the 2008 season, but he was promoted to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts midway through the season. The year 2009 saw him begin the season at AA Carolina in the Southern League, where his 9–3 record and 1.21 ERA earned him a call up to the AAA Louisville Bats. While he started the 2010 season back in Louisville, on June 30, he finally got the call up to the majors.

Travis Wood made his MLB debut with the Cincinnati Reds on July 1, 2010, against the Chicago Cubs, pitching seven innings, giving up only two hits and two earned runs while striking out four. Despite his stellar effort, the Cubs beat the Reds 3–2 in ten innings. His third start on July 10 against the Philadelphia Phillies saw him take a perfect game into the ninth inning only to have a double in the bottom of the ninth derail it. He ultimately appeared in seventeen games that season, all as a starting pitcher, compiling a record of 5–4 with an ERA of 3.51 in 102 2/3 innings. Wood also hit his first big league home run on September 4 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

While Wood was back in Louisville to start 2011, by the end of the season he was a regular part of the Cincinnati rotation, notching eighteen starts as he compiled a 6–6 record in 106 innings.

In December 2011, Wood was traded to the Chicago Cubs. While the trade was a shock, it would soon appear to be a career boost, because in 2012, he was a regular part of the Cubs rotation, serving only as a starting pitcher. He appeared in twenty-six games and pitched a career high of 156 innings while compiling a record of 6–13 with an ERA of 4.27 for the rebuilding team. In 2013, he took another step forward, achieving career highs in starts with 32, and innings pitched with 200, while lowering his ERA to 3.11, even though his record was only 9–12. During the season, Travis Wood was named an All-Star.

With thirty-one starts, Wood was again a stalwart part of the Cubs rotation in 2014, but his performance did not match his 2013 effort. When he struggled at the start of the 2015 campaign, Wood got moved to the bullpen. Overall, he appeared in 54 games, only nine of which were starts, and he finished with a 5–4 record with an ERA of 3.84, as the Cubs made the play-offs for the first time since 2008.

The 2016 Cubs started the season with high hopes. Now exclusively a relief pitcher, Wood appeared in seventy-seven games compiling a record of 4–0 with a 2.95 ERA as the Cubs won 103 games to win the Central Division on the way to claiming their first National League pennant since 1945 and their first World Series crown since 1908. Wood made important contributions, winning a Division Series game against the Giants and appearing in a total of nine games as the Cubs marched to the title.

The Cubs victory made Wood a local hero. November 11 was declared Travis Wood Day in Arkansas by Governor Asa Hutchinson, and the town of Bryant named a street after him. A parade was held in Bryant with Wood and his wife, Brittany, perched atop a Bryant Fire Department truck. Wood was also honored in a ceremony at the Friday night Bryant High School football game.

On November 3, 2016, Wood was granted free agency. On February 15, 2017, as spring training was getting started, the thirty-year-old Wood signed with the Kansas City Royals of the American League. Wood’s experience with the Royals was mixed. He started three games but spent most of the time in the bullpen, ultimately compiling a 1–3 record in 41 2/3 innings spread out over twenty-eight games.

Wood was traded to the San Diego Padres on July 24. He appeared in 11 games for the Padres, all starts, and finished 3–4, having thrown 52 1/3 innings. In what would prove to be his final MLB appearance, Wood pitched 4 2/3 innings in a start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 25. Giving up six earned runs on five hits and four bases on balls, Wood took the loss in the 9–3 Dodgers victory.

On December 20, 2017, Wood was released by the Padres, and while he was signed as a free agent by the Detroit Tigers at the end of January, on March 8, 2018, the Tigers released him, bringing his professional baseball career to an end. In eight MLB seasons, Travis Wood compiled a record of 47–59 with a career ERA of 4.26 in 994 innings.

Wood and his wife live in Alexander (Pulaski and Saline Counties) with their son and daughter.

For additional information:
Demirel, Evin. “Bryant’s Travis Wood Is a Member of a Small Arkansas World Series Club.” Arkansas Money & Politics, October 25, 2016. https://armoneyandpolitics.com/bryant-highs-travis-wood-member-small-arkansas-world-series-club/ (accessed October 10, 2024).

Poole, Shelli. “It Was Travis Wood Day in Bryant and Will Be Forever in Arkansas.” MySaline, November 13, 2016. https://www.mysaline.com/travis-wood-day-111116/ (accessed October 10, 2024).

“Travis Wood.” Baseball Reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/woodtr01.shtml (accessed October 10, 2024).

William H. Pruden III
Ravenscroft School