Red Sox Recall Jake Bennett For MLB Debut
For the past several days, it’s looked likely that Red Sox lefty Jake Bennett would be called up for his major league debut at some point this weekend. Boston made it official Friday, formally recalling Bennett from Triple-A Worcester to fill the roster spot created when utilityman Nate Eaton was optioned following yesterday’s game. Bennett will start tonight against the visiting Astros.
Acquired from the Nationals in an offseason trade sending righty Luis Perales back the other way, Bennett is a 6’6″, 234-pound lefty who entered the season ranked by Baseball America and MLB.com as the Red Sox’ No. 6 prospect. He’s turned in a sparkling 0.86 ERA across 21 innings (five starts) in Worcester to begin his tenure in the organization. The left-hander has fanned a below-average 20.3% of his opponents but also owns a brilliant 3.8% walk rate and a mammoth 58.9% ground-ball rate so far in 2026.
Bennett sits 93 mph with his heater and doesn’t miss all that many bats, but he has six pitches at his disposal and is credited with plus (60-grade) command on the 20-80 scale. His feel for location and that deep array of pitches helps him keep hitters off balance. His changeup draws the strongest grades from scouting reports at BA, MLB.com and FanGraphs. In addition to his four-seamer and changeup, Bennett utilizes a cutter, sinker, curveball and slider — though he’s barely used the slider to this point with the Red Sox organization.
Entering the season, Bennett was 10th or 11th on the Red Sox’ rotation depth chart, but Boston has been hit with a huge number of injuries. Ace Garrett Crochet just landed on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder inflammation, though both he and the team have expressed optimism that he’ll be able to return after a minimal stint. The Sox have also lost Sonny Gray (hamstring strain) and Johan Oviedo (flexor strain) to new injuries this season, while Patrick Sandoval, Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck are all still mending from injuries that predate the 2026 campaign. Sandoval had Tommy John surgery in 2024 and has yet to return. Houck had Tommy John surgery last August. Crawford is recovering from wrist surgery. Triple-A righty Tyler Uberstine, who made his MLB debut earlier this season, is on the minor league injured list due to shoulder discomfort.
With so many pitchers banged up, the Red Sox will plug Bennett into a rotation that currently includes Ranger Suarez, Brayan Bello, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle. Suarez, Early and Tolle have all enjoyed productive starts to their 2026 seasons. Bello has been one of the game’s least-effective starters, serving up 26 runs in 25 2/3 innings (six starts), but the Red Sox don’t have the luxury of removing him from the rotation right now due to that wide swath of injuries.
Bennett was added to a 40-man roster for the first time this past November, so he’s in the first of three minor league option years. He can’t reach a full year of big league service at this point, so the Sox will control him for at least six more full seasons following the 2026 campaign.
Red Sox Place Garrett Crochet On Injured List
The Red Sox have placed ace Garrett Crochet on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his left shoulder, per a club announcement. Utilityman Nate Eaton has been recalled from Triple-A Worcester to fill Crochet’s spot on the roster for the time being.
Crochet tells Christopher Smith of MassLive.com that he’s “pretty confident” he’ll be back after a minimum stay on the injured list. The 6’6″ lefty said he felt some fatigue during his last start, which prompted the team to take a cautious route and shut him down for the time being. He hasn’t stopped throwing, per Smith, so it seems the club also does not fear a lengthy layoff.
It’s been a strange start to the 26-year-old’s season. He’s turned in three quality starts — two of them scoreless six-inning gems — but also been hit hard on three occasions. In particular, Crochet was bludgeoned by the Twins in a visit to Target Field that saw him tagged for a career-worst 11 runs (10 earned) in only 1 2/3 innings. A drubbing that extreme, this early in the season, will take awhile to recover from — hence Crochet’s grisly 6.30 earned run average through his first six starts.
The average velocity on Crochet’s four-seamer and sinker is down this year, albeit not egregiously so. He’s down about 0.6 mph on the former (from 96.4 mph to 95.8 mph) and 0.8 mph on the latter (from 96 mph to 95.2 mph). It bears noting that Crochet’s velocity sat in a similar range through his first six starts last season but climbed as the season progressed. That brutal day in Minnesota featured his lowest single-game averages of any start this season (94.9 mph and 94.2 mph, respectively).
In swapping out Eaton for Crochet, the Sox will be playing a pitcher short today. They’d originally released a lineup without Roman Anthony, presumably to get him consecutive rest days — the Sox are off tomorrow — after his recent struggles with back pain. They’ve since released an amended lineup with Anthony atop the order and Jarren Duran out. Eaton’s recall to the roster gives interim manager Chad Tracy a full contingent of four bench options even if the Sox are trying to get Duran a breather for a couple days.
Boston’s rotation for the weekend will need to be reshuffled. Crochet, Connelly Early and Ranger Suarez would’ve been lined up to take the mound had everyone remained on turn, but they’ll have some choices now. They could move Early and Suarez up to start Friday and Saturday, respectively, as tomorrow’s off-day would keep them on regular rest. Smith also noted last night that prospect Jake Bennett was scratched from yesterday’s start in Triple-A Worcester. Tracy told the Sox beat that the team was just keeping its options open with an off-day Thursday; the reason for keeping those options open is now much clearer.
Bennett, 25, would be making his major league debut if he gets the call for a spot start. Acquired in an offseason trade with the Nationals, he’s begun the season with a 0.86 ERA in five starts and 21 innings with Triple Worcester. Bennett’s 20.3% strikeout rate is below average, but he’s only walked 3.8% of his opponents this season. He’s never sustained that level of command in the past, and he’s currently benefiting from a minuscule .207 average on balls in play, but there’s no denying it’s been a strong start to his season.
Bennett is already on the 40-man roster, which surely works in his favor as well. If not this weekend, it seems likely he’ll make his debut at some point before too long. In addition to Crochet, the Red Sox also have Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval and Tanner Houck on the injured list.
Red Sox, Nationals Swap Pitching Prospects
In a rare type of transaction, the Nationals and Red Sox have agreed to swap pitching prospects. The clubs announced a one-for-one deal that sends righty Luis Perales to Washington and southpaw Jake Bennett to Boston. Neither player has made his MLB debut but both are on the 40-man roster.
It’s the kind of trade that fans often like to project but which almost never happens in practice. Neither Bennett nor Perales is a top-tier prospect, but they each ranked among the top 10 talents in their respective organizations at Baseball America. Teams tend to value their own prospects more highly than those in other systems. That’s only natural, as they liked the player enough to acquire them in the first place and have been instrumental in their development.
That makes it difficult for teams to align on straight prospect for prospect deals — at least ones that aren’t largely motivated by roster considerations. This one was driven by a regime change in Washington. The Nationals hired former Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations. He has hired a handful of former Boston staffers in front office and player development roles. They evidently liked Perales enough to make him a priority.
Perales is a 22-year-old who signed with the Sox out of Venezuela. He has shown huge strikeout stuff with very concerning command. The Sox added him to their 40-man roster over the 2023-24 offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Perales blew out seven starts into the following season and underwent Tommy John surgery. He missed almost all of 2025 rehabbing, only returning for three short relief appearances in the final week. Those included his first two appearances in Triple-A, where he was back to pumping a 99 MPH fastball with a low-90s cutter and a mid-80s changeup.
Baseball America’s scouting report understandably lauds the fastball. They also grade the cutter as a plus pitch but note that he’ll need to develop an offspeed pitch and dramatically improve his control if he’s to stick as a starter. While there’s a decent chance he ends up in short relief down the line, the Nationals don’t need to hurry that. They can option him to Double-A or Triple-A as a starter or multi-inning reliever as they monitor his innings in his first full season back from the surgery.
Bennett, 25, is a 6’6″ lefty who was added to Washington’s 40-man roster last month. They needed to keep him out of this winter’s Rule 5 draft. As with Perales, he has been set back by a Tommy John procedure. His surgery came after the 2023 campaign and wiped out his entire ’24 season. The Oklahoma University product got back on the mound this past May. He combined for 19 appearances between three levels up to Double-A. Bennett turned in a 2.27 earned run average across 75 1/3 innings. He recorded a slightly below-average 21.5% strikeout rate but kept his walks to a tidy 6.4% clip.
BA credits Bennett with a plus changeup as the only standout offering in a six-pitch arsenal. He has plus control and the size to generate good extension. Bennett’s fastball only sits around 92-93 MPH on average. He’s unlikely to miss a ton of bats unless the Sox can coax more velocity out of him, but he’s a much safer bet than Perales to stick in a rotation. Bennett should reach Triple-A at some point next season and has a chance to debut before the end of the year, though that’d probably take a number of injuries to starters ahead of him on the depth chart.
The Red Sox opt for the more stable back-end starter profile while the Nationals shoot for the risk-reward play. Bennett has a trio of minor league option years. Perales is headed into his third option year but is likely to be eligible for a fourth option in 2027 because of his limited professional workload.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the trade. Respective images courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Jaylynn Nash, Imagn Images.
Nationals Select Three Players To 40-Man Roster
The Nationals announced that they have selected the contracts of three players. They are outfielder Christian Franklin, left-hander Jake Bennett and right-hander Riley Cornelio. All three are now protected from being selected in next month’s Rule 5 draft. The club’s 40-man roster count climbs from 34 to 37.
Franklin, 26 this month, was just acquired from the Cubs in the deadline deal which sent Michael Soroka to Chicago. A fourth-round pick from the 2021 draft, Franklin is generally considered good at a lot of things without a standout tool.
Between the Nats and Cubs, he spent all of 2025 at the Triple-A level, stepping to the plate 535 times in total. His 15% walk rate and 20.6% strikeout rate were both above average, though he hit only 12 home runs. His .272/.390/.427 batting line translated to a 118 wRC+, indicating he was 18% above league average. He played all three outfield spots and stole 19 bases. He’s not really considered a top prospect but he has shown enough to get a 40-man spot. He’ll look to work his way into the Washington outfield mix, a group that currently includes James Wood, Jacob Young, Robert Hassell III, Dylan Crews, Daylen Lile and others.
Bennett, 25 next month, was Washington’s second-round pick in 2022. He was taken 45th overall and secured a signing bonus of over $1.7MM. He has since been climbing the ladder, although Tommy John surgery in 2023 led to him missing the 2024 season. Here in 2025, he got back on track by logging 75 1/3 innings over 19 appearances, 18 of those officially being starts. He allowed just 2.27 earned runs per nine with a 21.5% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate and 47.3% ground ball rate. He just appeared in the Arizona Fall League and added another 20 innings.
Baseball America recently ranked Bennett the #6 prospect in Washington’s system. He hasn’t yet appeared at the Triple-A level but his final ten appearances in 2025 were at Double-A, so bumping up to the top minor league rung should be on the table next year. The Nats don’t have a ton of established arms in the rotation and might even subtract from the group by dealing MacKenzie Gore this offseason. Since they may be rebuilding for another year or two, Bennett could push his way into a major league audition at some point in the near future.
Cornelio, 26 in June, was a seventh-round pick from 2022. In 2025, he climbed from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A. In the process, he threw 134 1/3 innings with a 3.28 ERA, 24.8% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 37.6% ground ball rate. A few months ago, FanGraphs ranked him #36 in the system, projecting him to end up as a reliever in the long run. The Nats now have three option years, so they could keep trying him as a starter for a while or perhaps move him to the bullpen if they agree that’s where his future lies.
Photo courtesy of Lily Smith, Imagn Images.