Jake Bennett Is A Very Craig Breslow Return For Luis Perales

Craig Breslow and the Boston Red Sox pulled off a surprise trade this week, sending electric pitching prospect Luis Perales to the Washington Nationals for left-handed pitching prospect Jake Bennett. The trade is a strange and rare prospect-for-prospect trade, but with Paul Toboni now calling the shots for the Nationals, it makes sense that a trade between the two teams was bound to happen. Toboni does have an excellent understanding of the Red Sox's farm system after all. With the trade, Breslow continues his acquisition of pitchers who fit a certain, preferred mold.

Bennett, who was the Nationals’ second-round pick back in 2022, stands 6-foot-6 with elite extension (during his time in the Arizona Fall League Bennett averaged seven feet of extension) and a fastball that just averaged under 94 mph. His pitch arsenal is made up of six pitches: a fastball, changeup, sinker, cutter, curveball and slider. Depending on which side the batter hits from tends to dictate his pitch usage, as against left-handed batters, he relies heavily on his sinker (55.3% usage in the AFL). His cutter and fastball are used 18.1% and 14.9%, respectively, while his slider was used just 6.4% of the time and his changeup and curveball were used a combined 5.4%.

On the other hand, against right-handed batters it’s his fastball and changeup that make up 75.6% of the pitches he threw in the AFL. His cutter and curveball were his two next-most-used offerings, though it's clear that's he got a bread and butter against righties.

Bennett’s fastball, while averaging 93.8 mph, did top out around 96 mph in the AFL, and he’s already shown an increase in velocity compared to his professional debut. Spending the remainder of the offseason following the Red Sox's pitching program could yield another tick or two for the 2026 season.

The southpaw recently turned 25 years old at the start of December and returned in 2025 from Tommy John surgery, appearing in 19 games across three levels. Bennett finished the season with Double-A Harrisburg where he pitched in 10 games, making nine starts, going 1-2 with a 2.56 ERA in 45 2/3 innings. For the entire season, he wound up going 2-5 with a 2.27 ERA across 75 1/3 innings. Bennett struck out 64 batters and walked 19. Following the season, he was sent to the AFL where he was dominant in an otherwise hitter-friendly league.

In 20 frames, he led the AFL in strikeouts with 25 while walking just five batters. Of his pitches, the only one that had under a 20% chase rate was his curveball, while every pitch generated at least a 33% whiff rate (slider sat at a whopping 66.7%). His changeup was also a great pitch, being chased 45.6% of the time and being whiffed on 43.8% of the time. Overall, during his time in the AFL, Bennett managed to get opposing batters to chase on 34.1% of his pitches while whiffing on 39.9% of their swings.

Breslow holds a high opinion of the pitcher, going as far as to say: “We feel like Bennett is a high-probability starter that excels in some things that are hard to teach. Fastball playability driven by above-average extension and strike-throwing ability. His whiff rates and ability to manage hard contact have us confident in his ability to be a major-league starter”.

During his time in the AFL, Bennett held batters to a 44% hard-hit rate while the average exit velocity off of him was just 88 mph, a stat that had him sitting in the 72nd percentile.

Bennett, who was the Nationals’ sixth ranked prospect by Baseball America, has shown improvement since being drafted. Between his wide arsenal of pitches, being a left-handed pitcher, and his excellent command, he should be in the rotation if he makes it up to Boston. His time in Double-A (while short) can be compared to two other talented lefties in Connelly Early and Payton Tolle. Though older than both of them, Bennett had an ERA that was comparable to Early while his FIP was lower. While also having the lowest strikeout rate of the three, Bennett edged out Tolle for a lower walk rate at 6%. Along with that, Bennett’s ability to keep the ball on the ground rivals both pitchers, his 48% ground-ball rate falling just short of Early’s 50%, but being much higher than Tolle’s 40%.

Of course, you can’t get talent without giving up talent, and in return the Red Sox sent Perales back to the Nationals. Perales, who was Talk Sox’s fifth-ranked prospect at the time of the deal, was a talented-yet-injury-prone pitcher. He missed all but one game of the 2021 season due to injuries and the only season where he made at least 20 appearances was in 2023. This year, he was coming off of Tommy John surgery he had in 2024 and made just three appearances in 2025. Like Bennett, the talented prospect pitched in the AFL, where he made six starts and tossed 11 1/3 innings, striking out 19 batters.

Despite Perales’ talent, there was worry of the risk he would wind up being a reliever due to his history of injuries along with his command issues. While not confirmed, Breslow must have had that in mind when he traded what was known as the arm with the best raw stuff in the system. Bennett will have a lot to live up to, but he fits the mold that Breslow loves far more than Perales ever did.