Nationals Option Top Prospect Jackson Kent, What to Make of His First MLB Stint

After Tuesday's game, the Washington Nationals announced that they had optioned left-handed pitcher Jackson Kent to Triple-A Rochester.

With only four games remaining in the 2026 campaign at the time of writing, that ends Kent's season. His first MLB stint resulted in him owning a 5.94 ERA across eight appearances (seven starts). He struck out 30 batters across 36 1/3 innings pitched, but he also walked 25.

Kent made a huge rise this year to get to the majors. He began with Double-A Rochester before he was moved up to Triple-A following seven dominant starts where he produced an ERA of 2.35 with 38 strikeouts and just eight walks over 30 2/3 innings. But after running into some trouble with Rochester before having issues in the bigs, there are more questions than answers about the No. 9-ranked prospect in the Nationals' farm system.

So what should fans make of Kent's first MLB stint at the age of 23? That is a tough question to answer right now.

Command Issues

Washington Nationals pitcher Jackson Kent | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The first thing that jumped out whenever Kent pitched was how little control he seemed to have during each of his outings.

He finished his first MLB stint with a 14.7% walk rate. That was in the third percentile, per TJStats. That went against everything he showed during his time in the minors, as his two years on the farm saw him produce an impressive 68 walks across 217 1/3 innings pitched.

That could be chalked up to the reality of pitching in The Show against the best players in the world. Some pitchers try to be too perfect so they don't get hit around, and that results in them overthrowing and missing the zone. Still, it was surprising to see someone with seemingly pinpoint control have the command issues that he showed.

He'll have to get that figured out heading into 2027 if he's going to be a featured part of this staff.

Troubling Underlying Metrics

What is perhaps the biggest concern surrounding Kent are the underlying metrics.

He finished with a TJStuff+ rating of 96 that put him in the 11th percentile. He had a strikeout rate of 17.6%, which was in the eighth percentile. His fastball velocity of 93 mph was in the 27th percentile. So when combining his underwhelming stuff with command issues, it's not a surprise that he ran into some trouble at the big league level.

Before Kent was called up, it was highlighted that having a fastball velocity in the mid-90 mph range was key for him to have success. That didn't happen, and he struggled because of it.

Kent likely will never develop high-end stuff even thought he's only 23 years old. That makes it imperative that he excels in other facets of the game, which will be the control that he lacked during his first stint in the bigs.

The Positives

There are positives, though.

Kent might not have been able to record a high number of strikeouts, but he did induce a chase rate of 32.2%. His 23.8% whiff rate was just below the league average percentile at 44th, but he was exceptional at missing barrels and causing hitters to hit ground balls, with his barrel rate sitting in the 82nd percentile at 5.2% and his ground ball rate being in the 83rd percentile at 49.6%.

That is something to build upon, especially because he was generating those numbers with poor control and stuff that was not blowing away hitters. So, if he can build upon that while increasing his fastball velocity and hitting the strike zone more consistently, then he could become a key pitcher for this team moving forward.

Will Jackson Kent Be a Starter?

Whether that comes as a starting pitcher, though, I'm not so sure.

Washington needs to revamp their entire pitching staff, and with some big contracts coming off the books and president of baseball operations Paul Toboni showing proof of concept to the ownership group, then there could be some new faces arriving via free agency or through trades that upgrades the rotation.

That makes it hard for me to envision Kent sticking as one of the five starting pitchers if he doesn't come into spring training looking like a completely different pitcher. However, I do think there is a place for him in this staff, and he could be a multi-inning reliever even with his lack of stuff.

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