According to Spencer Nusbaum, LHP Jackson Kent will be making his MLB debut this week. Kent has had a very strong season which saw him promoted from Double-A, and now the southpaw will get his second promotion of the year. The 23 year old is the top left handed pitcher in the Nats system according to MLB Pipeline and Baseball America.
Kent is not the most exciting pitching prospect in the world, but he projects to be in a big league rotation for a long time. While he does not light up the radar gun, Kent has enough velocity to keep hitters honest, sitting in the 93-95 MPH range. However, his best pitch is a nasty changeup that generates whiffs over 40% of the time. He sells it really well out of the hand and consistently fools hitters.
Honestly, Kent’s profile is a lot like Jake Bennett’s. As we know by now, Bennett was traded to the Red Sox in a deal that sent back Luis Perales. With Bennett having a lot of success as a rookie, this deal has been relitigated a lot these past couple months. Kent has a chance to make fans forget about Bennett though.
He has a polished four pitch mix, with a slider and curveball to go with the fastball/changeup combo. Kent has also shown very solid command in the minors throughout his minor league career. The 2024 4th rounder has walked 2.82 batters per 9 since entering pro ball.
For a guy with solid but not elite stuff, Kent has also been quite the strikeout artist. This season he has 105 strikeouts in 94.1 innings. Between his deceptive delivery, the nasty changeup and having enough juice on his heater, Kent can really rack up the strikeouts when he is on his game.
However, one problem I have noticed with Kent is that when he is off his game, it can get really ugly. That is a big reason why his ERA in Triple-A is an unspectacular 4.38. In his 13 AAA starts, he has allowed 5 or more runs three times. On the flip side, he has also gone at least five innings while allowing 2 or fewer runs 7 times in AAA.
When you have average stuff, it can be tough to survive when you are not executing. However, as Kent gains more experience, I do think he will limit those blowup starts. Kent’s ability to get whiffs, limit hard contact and keep the ball on the ground are all traits that should give him a long big league career.
Last month, I wrote about how I wanted to see Kent in the big leagues rather than veterans such as Littell and Mikolas. A month later, Kent is taking Littell’s spot in the rotation. Even if there are bumps along the way, it will be more interesting at the very least.
Kent may not have top of the rotation upside, but his ceiling is much higher than Littell. A mid-90’s heater and a nasty changeup from the left side is an exciting package. The former high school football player from Illinois is going to get his shot at the big leagues. Hopefully the lefty brings that same bulldog mentality to the mound this week.
For a while, Kent got overshadowed by other pitchers in the organization. However, he beat most of those guys to the big leagues and is now a true top 10 prospect in the system. He is a meat and potatoes middle of the rotation arm, but there is plenty of value in that. I am excited to see the Nats top left handed pitching prospect on the mound in the big leagues.
