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The Nationals and Red Sox hooked up on a prospect-for-prospect trade on Dec. 15, with the Nationals sending lefty Jake Bennett to Boston for righty Luis Perales. Both players share plenty of similarities. Each had Tommy John surgery in the last two seasons, each was added to his team’s 40-man roster last month and each was part of the 2025 Arizona Fall League.
The move reunites Perales with former Red Sox executive Paul Toboni, who took over this winter as the Nationals’ new general manager. Both players have a chance to reach the big leagues in 2026.
Perales ranked fifth in the Red Sox system prior to the trade. Bennett, meanwhile, ranked sixth for Washington.
NATIONALS RECEIVE
Luis Perales, RHP
Age: 22
Perales had one of the livest arms in the Red Sox system. His fastball sat at 98-101 mph in his return to the mound, with 17 to 20 inches of ride. It has the potential to draw plenty of whiffs, but he’ll have to keep it in the zone more often to make it more effective. His low-90s cutter found the zone more often and could replace the four-seamer as his most-thrown heater as he moves through the minors. He backs the fastballs with a gyro-shaped slider and a splitter, the latter of which serves as his changeup. He’ll have to get the splitter to look more like a strike to make hitters susceptible to its late bite. The righthander has plenty of raw tools. Now, he just has to throw more strikes.
RED SOX RECEIVE
Jake Bennett, LHP
Age: 25
Bennett is tall and lanky and uses big-time extension and a lower slot to amplify his arsenal. He flummoxes hitters with a six-pitch mix led by four-seam, two-seam and cut fastballs and backed by a changeup, slider and curveball. His fastballs typically sit around 92-93 mph and have peaked at 96. The changeup is the gem of his mix. In 2025, it shackled righties, who produced just a .210 average against the pitch without a home run. The duo of breaking balls is used more as a side dish than a main course, though both can land in the zone to steal strikes or out of it to get chases. Bennett does an outstanding job peppering the zone with all of his pitches and should have plus control in the big leagues.
