It was not the easiest year for the Nats farm system, but I wanted to show love to a few under the radar prospects who had solid years. Alex Clemmey was our Nats prospect of the year, but these three players also showed a lot of promise. Those players are Jake Bennett, Sam Petersen and Jackson Kent.
First, I wanted to start with Bennett because he put up the best statistics and is the most highly regarded of the trio. He was probably the runner up for Nats prospect of the year. Bennett was coming
back from Tommy John Surgery, which cost him all of 2024.
Bennett has come back better than ever in 2025. In 75.2 innings, the 24 year old posted a 2.27 ERA in High-A and Double-A. His velocity was better than ever, settling in the mid-90’s. Bennett also has a very good changeup and a decent breaking ball.
However, at his core, Bennett is a command based pitcher. Strikeouts are not a massive part of his game. In High-A, he struck out 9.13 batters per 9 innings, but that was mostly due to how much more advanced he was than the competition. Once he got to Double-A, the strikeouts were tougher to come by. He only struck out 6.5 batters per 9 in AA, but still pitched to a 2.56 ERA and 3.20 FIP.
Bennett did this by keeping the ball on the ground and in the yard. His 48.1% ground ball rate in AA was very solid and he only allowed 3 homers all season. Moving forward, the lack of strikeouts gives me some pause. MLB hitters will probably hit more homers off of him and it is tough to pitch to contact in 2025.
That limits his ceiling to probably that of a number 4 starter. However, Bennett has a high probability of reaching that ceiling. He turns 25 in December and dominated AA. Bennett should probably start next season in Triple-A and get a shot at the big leagues at some point in 2026.
The next guy I am going to talk about is the only hitter of the three in Sam Petersen. He struggled with injuries this year, but he was fantastic when he was on the field. Due to his stop and start season, Petersen will be getting more reps in the Arizona Fall League and he will be a player to watch down there.
Drafted out of Iowa in the 8th round of the 2024 draft, Petersen has outperformed players picked much higher than him by the Nats. High-A Wilmington is well known as a tough place to hit, so when a player puts up numbers there, it catches my attention.
That is exactly what Petersen did this season. Overall, he played 57 games this season, with 44 being in Wilmington. In his High-A action, Petersen hit .297 with an .888 OPS. He also smashed 6 homers while stealing 18 bases. That power/speed combination Petersen possesses is very exciting.
Petersen also did not strike out too much at the level. In High-A, he only struck out 18% of the time while walking at an 11.6% clip. His wRC+ was at a staggering 161, meaning he was 61% better than league average.
Unfortunately, injuries cost him the chance to have a true breakout year. However, if he has a big AFL, he could be a prospect with big helium entering 2026. Out of all the hitters in the 2024 draft class, Petersen was the most impressive. He will start next season in AA and if he can stay healthy, Sam Petersen will have a big year.
The last player on my list is an unusual one because his surface level numbers don’t look too great. However, when you dive into Jackson Kent’s underlying data, there are some things to be excited by.
Kent was drafted in the 4th round out of the University of Arizona in 2024. The left handed pitcher put up a pedestrian 4.61 ERA in 123 innings during his first pro season. He pitched at the High-A and Double-A levels this season.
However, there is more than what meets the eye here. For the season, Kent’s FIP sat at a very respectable 3.75 and his xFIP was sparkling at 3.30. So why do these advanced numbers like Kent so much?
Well, he gets a lot of strikeouts and does not walk many guys. For the season, Kent had a 25.9% K rate and a 7.5% walk rate. Those are both very strong numbers and point to future success. Kent’s ERA was elevated by a high BABIP and bad luck with runners on base.
The strikeout rate and the walk rate point to Kent breaking out next year. His stuff is not anything special, but Kent is a deceptive lefty with a very good changeup. Clearly, he is tough for guys to pick up and he gets a lot of whiffs.
I think he can be 2026’s version of Jake Bennett. Both are control oriented lefties with good, not great stuff. Kent is more of a strikeout guy, while Bennett suppresses contact better. However, there are some similarities here.
If Bennett can have the same process he did this year, the results will be better next year. His best starts were dominant, but he also had a few blowup outings. Kent will need to limit those as much as he can. I actually think Kent has the potential to be a back end of the rotation piece.
Sure, a lot of the heavy hitters in the Nats system either struggled or got hurt, but it was not all bad. The Nats found three diamonds in the rough that can go on to do even better things in 2026. I am excited to see how the farm does now that Paul Toboni is running the show. In my opinion, there will be a lot of breakouts in 2026.
