The Red Sox and Nationals made an unusual prospect-for-prospect swap Monday, with righthander Luis Perales heading to Washington in exchange for lefthander Jake Bennett, the teams announced.
Bennett, 25, joins the Sox’ stable of upper-minors arms and fits what chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has sought in pitchers. He is listed at 6 foot 6 inches and 234 pounds, so he joins a growing group of very large pitchers on the 40-man roster. He also has above-average extension (the distance from which he releases a pitch) and command, Breslow said. Those are among the reasons the Red Sox view him as a likely starting pitcher in the long term.
“[The Sox] feel like he’s on the ascent and his best years are in front of him,” Breslow said.
After missing all of 2024 following Tommy John surgery, Bennett returned to pitch in 19 games last season over three levels, compiling a 2.27 ERA and 1.08 WHIP — overall numbers that were similarly strong in 10 games at Double A.
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Although some pitchers struggle with command in their first action back from the major elbow operation, Bennett issued just 19 walks (to 64 strikeouts) in 75⅓ innings.
The Nationals selected Bennett in the second round of the 2022 draft. They added him to the 40-man roster, to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, in November.
Perales, 22, is even more recently returned from Tommy John surgery. He appeared in three minor league games before the end of the year, then went to the Arizona Fall League. Although his velocity came back — touching 100 miles per hour — he struggled to throw strikes, walking 11 batters (and striking out 19) in 11⅓ innings.
Breslow’s trade partner: the Nationals’ new president of baseball operations, Paul Toboni, who had been a Red Sox assistant general manager
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.