The Nationals got their first real look at Jackson Kent on Wednesday, and the left-hander gave them a debut that came with both promise and blemishes.
Washington officially added Kent to the major league roster before the game, and veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas was designated for assignment to clear the way. The 23-year-old arrived after beginning the season at Double-A, so there was plenty of curiosity about how he’d hold up in his first big league start.
He held up better than the raw line might suggest.
Kent finished with three earned runs allowed on three hits, five walks and six strikeouts over four innings, and the trouble really came late. He opened by striking out the first hitter he saw, then walked the next two before punching out the next two to escape the first inning without damage. He didn’t allow a hit until the top of the fourth, but the fifth turned messy fast: a leadoff single, a walk and then an RBI double by NL MVP frontrunner Pete Crow-Armstrong forced manager Blake Butera to go to the bullpen.
Even with that rough ending, there was plenty to like about how Kent carried himself on the mound. He looked like a big league starter from the first pitch, with a presence that stood out even if he isn’t a massive 6-foot-3 frame.
More important, he didn’t unravel when he had to pitch out of self-inflicted trouble. For a 23-year-old making his debut against a Cubs lineup that has the best OPS in the majors against left-handed pitching, that matters.
The velocity was the part that really jumped out. Kent’s fastball has helped push him through the system this year because he had been throwing harder than he had in the past, but on Wednesday he only threw six pitches harder than 94 mph and reached 95 mph just once. Every one of those came in the first inning, and by the fifth his heater was sitting in the low-90s.
That can be read a couple different ways, but there’s a case to be made that it actually strengthens his profile. If Kent can get major league hitters out even when the upper-end velocity isn’t there all night, that’s a good sign for his long-term outlook.
The walks were harder to ignore. Five free passes will always stand out, and three of them came on four pitches.
Some of that can be blamed on debut jitters, especially with him pitching at home against a Chicago team full of All-Stars and carrying championship expectations. Still, it’s fair to wonder whether he was simply falling behind or pitching carefully to avoid making a costly mistake.
That answer should come over his next few starts.
One thing that cuts against panic is his track record in the minors. He wasn’t a high-walk pitcher with Rochester, where he issued a walk 8.2% of the time.
Kent also wasn’t widely billed as a major strikeout arm on the way up, even though he posted 237 strikeouts across 217 1/3 innings in 44 minor league starts. But Wednesday showed that he can miss bats against quality competition.
The Cubs entered the game with the majors’ best overall offense by wRC+ at 112, and they were especially strong against left-handers at 124. They were also tied for 16th in the majors with a 21.7% strikeout rate.
Kent handled that challenge well enough to leave with something to build on. He struck out three hitters in the first inning, added two more in the third and finished with another in the fourth. Against a lineup that had been punishing lefties, six strikeouts in his debut was a real bright spot.
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