The Nationals keep hunting for any arm that can give them a real big-league inning, and Zak Kent has at least made himself worth a closer look.
After the rough night against the Phillies, Washington brought Kent back up, and he has already answered with two scoreless innings. That’s not a long runway, but in this bullpen, even a small clean stretch can change the conversation fast.
Kent has now appeared in six games with the Nats overall, and the early results are a mixed bag on the surface: a 4.70 ERA. Dig a little deeper, though, and the picture looks more interesting, with a 3.49 FIP and a 2.11 xERA.
Kent is one of Paul Toboni’s waiver claims, part of the constant churn that comes with trying to patch together a bullpen. He was designated for assignment by the Twins in late April, then picked up by Washington. He made a few appearances in May before getting sent down, and now he’s back in the mix again.
There’s also a little homecoming angle here. Kent is a Virginia native who went to VMI, so this is a return to familiar ground.
But the real incentive is simpler than that: stay in the majors by getting outs. So far, he’s done exactly that since his latest recall.
What makes Kent stand out is the shape of his arsenal. He spins the ball as well as almost anybody in his range.
Among pitchers with at least 100 pitches thrown, his fastball spin rate ranks third. His slider and curveball also get plenty of spin, which gives him a real chance to carve hitters up with movement rather than pure velocity.
The fastball is the most interesting part of the mix. It’s listed as a four-seamer, but it plays more like a hard cutter.
The pitch has a lot of cut and not much ride, and the eye test matches the numbers there. It doesn’t come in blazing, either, sitting at 92.4 MPH on the season.
Since joining the Nationals, though, that average fastball velocity has climbed to 93.4. His slider has ticked up more than a mile per hour as well, and his curveball is almost 3 MPH faster.
That’s still not the profile of a power arm, but a 93 MPH cutter can absolutely work if the movement is there.
Kent’s best weapons are the breaking balls. Both the curve and the slider have whiff rates above 35% this season, and that’s the kind of swing-and-miss you can build a relief role around.
He’s a natural supinator, which helps explain why the ball comes out with so much natural cut and why he can work different breaking shapes. There’s even a hint that Washington may be exploring a sweeper look with him.
This season he has one pitch labeled as a sweeper, and he had three last year.
Since his return, Kent has leaned hard into those breaking balls. It’s only been two outings, but he’s throwing both the curve and slider more than 30% of the time.
That kind of split is not far off the approach Andrew Alvarez has used, with fastball, slider and curve all showing up in roughly equal doses. Kent could fit a similar mold if the command holds.
There’s also a bit of a clue in how Kent described himself earlier this year. In a piece from early 2025, he referred to his fastball as a cutter, even though Baseball Savant classifies it as a four-seamer. That lines up with what the pitch actually looks like.
This is not the profile of a shutdown closer, and nothing here suggests a high-leverage monster waiting to happen. But there is enough in the mix to think Kent can be a useful major league reliever.
The Nationals need those guys badly. If he keeps stacking clean innings, the trust level will rise quickly.
And in a bullpen like this, that path can open fast.
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