Wood first came to prominence as a twenty-year old rookie when he recorded twenty strikeouts in a one-hit shutout against the Houston Astros, which some have argued may be the greatest single-game pitching performance in Major League Baseball history.The game also made Wood the co-holder of the MLB record for strikeouts in a single game, and earned Wood the nickname Kid K. He was later named the 1998 National League Rookie of the Year. Wood would go on to record over 200 strikeouts in four out of his first five seasons, with a high of 266 in 2003, and holds several MLB strikeout records.