FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Jake Bennett has only nine starts as a professional baseball player, a small sample size for a young pitcher. But his dominance in those outings with low Class A Fredericksburg led to his promotion on Friday to high-A Wilmington.
Bennett, a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, had a 1.93 ERA in Fredericksburg. He struck out 54 batters and walked just eight in 42 innings. He ranked in the top four of the Carolina League in ERA, WHIP and strikeouts.
“My body, my arm, is feeling great,” Bennett said Wednesday. “I’ve just been trying to take it one game at a time, one pitch at a time, and just give my team the best opportunity we can to win.”
Bennett’s early success is a small step, yet a welcome one for the Nationals. He’s likely to make his first start in Wilmington on Tuesday, according a source familiar with the team’s plan for Bennett.
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The Nationals’ rebuild hinges on getting the most out of first-round picks and the prospects the team acquired in the trade of Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the Padres. But hitting on picks beyond the first round, such as Bennett, could speed up the team’s return to contention.
That’s not to say Bennett’s early success was unexpected. The Nationals first drafted the 6-foot-6 lefty in the 39th round out of high school in 2019, and he drew the team’s attention last summer with strong command, a low-to-mid-90s fastball and a deceptive change-up that is his go-to pitch. Bennett, 22, struck out 133 batters and walked 22 in 117 innings a year ago at Oklahoma, and he was the Sooners’ Friday night starter, a role usually given to a college team’s best pitcher.
To manage his workload, Bennett, 22, didn’t pitch in a professional game last year. This season, he’s worked on improving his breaking pitches, especially his curveball, and he’s seen positive results thanks to throwing what he describes as a “peanut.” Since spring training, Bennett has used a double ball — two baseballs taped on top of each other — to get a closer look at the spin of his breaking pitches.
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“So you hold the bottom ball and try to get that end-over-end spin on it,” he said. “If you get that end-over-end spin, that’s what you want. If you’re a little bit on the side of the ball, it won’t spin right, and you’ll not be able to kind of get that instant feedback.”
Last season, Bennett said, he didn’t have a good feel for his curveball or his slider. As a result, lefties gave him a bit more trouble despite him seemingly having an advantage in a lefty-lefty matchup.
Fredericksburg pitching coach Justin Lord said the goal of using the double ball is for Bennett to have the same release point on his curveball as his fastball. Lord said some young pitchers have a tendency to “cast” a baseball — releasing it from higher up to create the curve instead of allowing the pitch to move naturally by throwing it correctly.
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If a pitcher’s mechanics are off and he casts the double ball, it will end up on his arm side and well off target. So the double ball reinforces strong mechanics and, as Lord put it, “makes it difficult to throw bad.” Lord said Bennett has thrown the double ball less recently because he has a better feel for his mechanics. Bennett believes the improved breaking pitches and a better command of his sinker in to lefties have “opened up a lot of windows” for his game.
“I think he’s gaining a feel for that pitch for a strike and [he’s] able to throw it below the zone for a swing and miss,” Lord said of Bennett’s curveball. “He was predominantly a fastball/change-up guy with little bit of a breaking ball early on, but now that he’s gotten that third or fourth pitch, it gives hitters more they have to defend as well. I think it makes his fastball and change-up play up a little bit more now that he has those other options.”
Fredericksburg manager Jake Lowery said Bennett started in Fredericksburg because he was new to professional baseball and had to learn how to develop a routine. Bennett said he had to adjust to throwing much more frequently than in college, and it took time for his body to adapt, especially in spring training.
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“Obviously he didn’t pitch at all last year,” Lowery said. “Sending him here probably wasn’t, like, the most sexy move, but for us I was excited. He’s done everything you would want him to do. He’s gone deep into games. His pitch count is low … [and he] keeps the pace up. It’s like having your Friday guy out there on Tuesdays.”
Now, Bennett will look to carry over his success to Wilmington. He said Wednesday that he’d tried not to think too much about getting promoted. He wanted to lean as much as he could at each level and believed the opportunity to move up would come in time. He didn’t have to wait very long.
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