Inside Jackson Kent’s breakout season that brought him to the Nationals

Jackson Kent’s ascent began in January.

The left-hander spent the first part of his offseason in Arizona, entered the team’s minor-league camp in Florida and immediately opened eyes.

“I remember talking to him on the phone after the dead period and diving into what he had been doing,” Nationals director of pitching Grayson Crawford said. “You could just sense like this guy was on a mission to not only prove to all of us new staff members that he was going to be a force, but also just proving to himself and other people in the org that he’s coming in here and ready to go and bigger goals than just like having a good year in Double-A.”

Once the season started, Kent excelled at Harrisburg, pitching to a 2.35 ERA in seven starts before being promoted to Triple-A, where he recorded a 4.38 ERA in 13 starts. Armed with a plus changeup and a fastball that is livelier than ever, Kent has been one of the Nationals’ biggest risers this season. Now, he’s in line to make his big-league debut as the team’s starting pitcher Wednesday.

Rotation help was a priority for the Nationals before the trade deadline, but it became even more of a pressing need after they traded left-hander Foster Griffin and designated Zack Littell for assignment last week. The Nationals are hoping Kent can help fill the void, and that he’ll be the first example of how the organization under president of baseball operations Paul Toboni develops pitchers.

What initially stood out to the new staff was Kent’s increased velocity.

“I remember at one point thinking, ‘How hard is he going to throw?’” Crawford recalled. “Because it seemed like the first four or five outings, it just wasn’t stopping. It was a little bit harder and a little bit harder. I and [minor-league pitching coordinator] Sean McGrath had a conversation like, ‘Man, if this guy’s throwing this hard, we have a we have a real dude on our hands.’ Fast-forward five, six months, and it’s been exactly that.”

In 2025, Kent mostly sat at 90-93 mph, but this year he’s been around 93-94 mph.

Kent was already known for commanding multiple offerings, so having a more dangerous four-seamer makes his other pitches even more effective.

From that January camp to spring training, he worked on drills to better sync up his delivery and unlock his athleticism. Having good stuff is a prerequisite at the major-league level, but Kent has shown the ability to maintain velocity deep into outings, which is essential for a starter.

The Nationals’ coaches and coordinators believe that the individualized plans they’ve developed have been essential to helping pitchers across the organization increase their velocity. Their pitching pillars are to limit walks, miss bats and create difficult swing decisions.

They try to bring the athlete out of their pitcher on the mound. For Kent, that meant working on his delivery so his body is moving in a straight line toward home plate.

“Now, it’s just about making sure the timing of that’s happening correctly,” Crawford said. “And as long as he does that, that’s when you see some of the higher outputs. You’ve seen some pitches close to 97 mph, and that’s been a personal record for him.”

With a more consistent delivery allowing him to throw harder than ever, Kent has gotten more swings and misses, recording 10.02 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors this year.

“[The changeup’s] gotten even better since last year,” Triple-A assistant pitching coach Sam Narron said. “You create more separation and velocity between [the fastball and changeup], and it’s a real weapon, no doubt.”

Kent can throw the changeup in most situations, landing it for a strike early in the count or getting hitters to chase one late in the at-bat that falls out of the zone.

“And he works so fast, so he forces guys to make decisions,” Narron said. “And when you force people to make decisions, they’re going to make some bad ones.”

The term “pitchability” has followed Kent, a former fourth-round pick out of Arizona, throughout his minor league career, suggesting he relies more on craftiness and deception. But Crawford said that doesn’t fully capture how dominant he can be, as evidenced by his strikeout totals and how competitive he is on the mound.

Confidence is essential to most major-league starters. Handling adversity separates those who last from those who don’t. Crawford described at-bats as “street fights,” and how the organization wants its pitchers to train that way. He wants pitchers to be “out-getters” when they’re on the mound.

“We want our guys to understand that at the end of the day, there’s a lot of things that’ll change: The venue will change, the skill of the player will change,” he said. ”But they still have to have the same understanding that if you [attack] the guy in the box every time you go out there, it just gives you confidence in what you’re doing.”

Team officials also rave about Kent’s makeup. He grew as one of the leaders in the farm system with his adherence to the daily grind of a baseball season, endearing him to his teammates. He doesn’t find tedious tasks cumbersome.

As Kent was promoted from Double-A to Triple-A, Narron said that “he just folded right into the team and continued his work.”

Kent’s affability was important for the organization at that January camp. As the organization prepped for the event, they identified a couple of Double-A players whom they felt could help establish the culture. While baseball can often be a sport of individual matchups, consistent winning is established through a strong foundation cultivated by the players.

“Jackson’s kind of been the guy that’s led the pack,” Crawford said. “The work he did when he was at Arizona training, he just showed up ready to go.”