PHILADELPHIA - The Nationals’ present has gotten messier, but the future is starting to look a lot more interesting.
With the big club stumbling through the final stretch and Connelly Early now on pause after a bout of minor forearm tightness, the organization’s attention has shifted even harder toward two Triple-A starters who are getting closer by the day: Luis Perales and Jackson Kent. Neither is expected in the clubhouse Friday against the Cincinnati Reds, but both appear to be moving toward Washington soon, barring an unexpected turn.
That possibility matters more now than it did two weeks ago, when the Nationals were just one game out of the final wild-card spot. Since then, they’ve dropped eight of 10 and shipped out three key players at the deadline.
The season hasn’t collapsed, but the conversation around it has changed. It’s less about what happens now and more about who might help next.
Perales, a hard-throwing right-hander, has been one of the more fascinating arms in the system because the stuff has long been obvious. The challenge was getting the strikeouts to match it. He sits at 99 mph, and Nationals catcher Harry Ford called his stuff “devastating,” but the punchouts weren’t coming often enough.
So the organization turned to its favorite tool: a little motivation.
Pitching director Grayson Crawford told Perales he’d buy him dinner if he could strike out 30 percent of right-handed hitters over a three-start stretch. Perales had been sitting at a 15 percent strikeout rate against righties.
Over those next three starts, he struck out 36 percent of the batters he faced. When he walked back to the dugout after his final strikeout, he made it clear the coaches had better be ready to pay up.
“Paul (Toboni) talks a lot about making the scoreboard visible,” Crawford said. “The scoreboard can be a lot of different things. We just try to find ways to create an environment that guys enjoy being part of, but also that they can hold themselves accountable to and push themselves in.”
The Nationals have been aggressive in how they’ve developed Perales. They put two dummies in the batter’s box during bullpens so he could better learn how to attack the top and bottom of the zone.
They changed the strike zone outline with strings so he could get a clearer feel for what the edges should look like. They’ve also tightened his routine and helped him become more athletic, giving him a better chance to adjust physically from pitch to pitch.
That work has sharpened his ability to get by even when he doesn’t feel great. His splitter has become a major weapon too.
In July, he used what people in the organization called his “special” pitch 39 percent of the time and posted a 1.46 ERA. The overall package still has room to grow - he lost velocity late in Thursday’s start and gave up five earned runs, and the walk rate can still improve - but his numbers remain encouraging.
He has a 3.76 ERA in 88 2/3 innings this year.
Kent is the other arm drawing real attention, and in some ways he looks even more like a big-league starter already. The 2024 fourth-round pick has the kind of traits organizations love: pitchability, competitiveness, and the feel of a self-starter. The only obvious question is whether his fastball can hold the kind of life it showed earlier in the year.
Earlier this season, Kent was touching 95 mph with regularity. Over his last five starts, he has reached that mark just twice.
Velocity is not everything, but in his case it matters. When the heater is firmer, the rest of his game plays up too.
There’s still a plan in place to close that gap and get him to the majors. Crawford said the organization keeps talking about what major league readiness looks like, and those conversations include thinking ahead and identifying what still needs to get better.
“Something we do talk a lot about is major league readiness, and what does that look like,” Crawford said. “With mine and Simon’s relationship, it also helps, where we’re asking, ‘What are we seeing?
What do we need to be better at? How can we think ahead?’”
Washington has already used Kent on five days’ rest multiple times this season, which is not common in the minors. And it’s worth noting that the Nationals listed “TBD” for Sunday’s probable starter. Kent would be on just four days’ rest from his most recent outing if he were used there, though the club could also wait until after Monday’s off day.
Either way, the path is there. Kent has a 3.72 ERA in the minors this season, and Perales, with his power stuff and growing polish, is right there with him. For a Nationals team searching for some good news, the next wave may already be close enough to hear.
In Other News...
Nationals May Have Found A New Outfield Power Option
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Pinckney answered with his first big league hit and finished 1-for-2 before coming out in the sixth inning. For a club looking for any jolt it can find in the outfield, the debut did more than just check a box on the rookies career path. It gave the Nationals a glimpse of a player who might offer more than temporary depth, even if the larger question of how quickly he can fit into the mix is still very much open. [Read more 🡒]
Dylan Crews Is Giving The Nationals A Reason To Believe Again
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The encouraging part for Washington is that the process has held even when the results have not always followed in a neat line. Crews improved strike-zone judgment has given the Nationals something concrete to build on, especially at a time when they are leaning heavily on emerging players to carry the organization forward. There is still plenty to sort out, but for a team searching for reasons to believe, his development has become one of the more meaningful ones. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Return Home With Pressure Rising Against A Dangerous Reds Team
The Nationals headed back to Washington after a 7-3 loss to the Phillies, a defeat that left them with three losses in four games in the series and eight losses in their last nine overall. The trip did produce one bright spot, though, as Andrew Pinckney made his first career start and delivered his first major-league home run, a small jolt for a club trying to find anything that can steady it heading into the homestand.
Cincinnati is waiting at Nationals Park for a three-game set, and the matchup does not figure to offer much breathing room. Washington has already lined up its starters for the first two games, but the final game of the series still has not been settled, leaving one more piece of rotation business hanging as the club tries to halt the slide against a Reds team that can make a bad week feel even longer. [Read more 🡒]