Washington Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni has finally swung his first deal with his former team.
The team announced on Monday they had acquired right-handed pitcher Luis Perales from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for left-handed pitcher Jake Bennett. It's 1-for-1, so these are the full terms of the trade. Both men were already on their teams' respective 40-man rosters, so no corresponding transactions are required to make space for them. Neither man has any Major League experience or service, though Perales has just one option year after his contract was selected by Boston following the 2023 season.
Perales, who will be 23 this season, ranked 7th on the Red Sox top 30 prospects list according to MLB.com and was 5th per Baseball America. The 6'1" right-hander is assessed a 70-grade fastball by Pipeline, while FanGraphs evaluators consider it a 65-grade offering. He plays off the four-seamer with a strong 60-grade splitter and solid cutter. He was signed out of Venezuela by the team for $75,000 in 2019.
That four-seam fastball touched 101 MPH in the Arizona Fall League this year as he posted above-average K rates but struggled to control the zone, running an 18% walk rate against. It was the first real look we've gotten at him in game action since June of 2024, when he injured his elbow and needed to undergo Tommy John surgery. Perales was nails in the 9 starts he made that year, recording a 1.91 FIP across Advanced- and Double-A play.
Perales has a mammoth ceiling, but with that comes a much lower floor that led most evaluators to assign him a 45 FV. He'll likely start the year in Triple-A, but when he does crack the big league roster, there are questions surrounding his usage. Many teams reportedly believe Perales' future is as a relief arm, but the Nationals, even after adding Griff McGarry a week ago, have rotation spots for the taking and it's not unreasonable to think he might get some run as a starter. Red Sox beat writer Tyler Milliken posted on social media that the move is reflective of Boston POBO Craig Breslow's concern regarding the risk of his eventual landing in that role; the Nationals have significantly less to lose if that's the case.
Bennett, drafted in the second round in 2022 out of Oklahoma, was the Nationals' 11th-ranked prospect prior to his trade. The big 6'6" lefty didn't pitch in 2024 due to Tommy John surgery recovery, but returned in 2025 and climbed his way to Double-A, where he posted a 2.56 ERA in 45.2 innings despite underwhelming strikeout numbers. In the Arizona Fall League, the strikeout stuff returned, as he led the league with 25 Ks and posted both excellent whiff and walk rates.
I wrote about Bennett in October prior to his selection to the team's 40-man roster to prevent him from being selected by a rival team in the Rule 5 Draft. In it, I discussed that Bennett is a low-variance type likely to end up as a back-end starter. He features six pitches, none of which are particularly dominant, though his changeup is his best offering and he commands the strike zone well. Also of note is the age difference: Bennett is over two full years older than Perales, and Toboni's front office may well be prioritizing younger arms, especially if he's familiar with them already, as opposed to older ones that are holdovers from the previous regime.
There's been a clear and dramatic shift in philosophy in the front office that has made itself evident in the last few weeks: Paul Toboni likes the strikeout guys. The aforementioned McGarry joins the several minor league arms taken in the Rule 5 last week in fitting into this archetype, and Perales is in the same boat. Let us know your thoughts on this new direction for the Nationals by tagging or replying to us on Twitter, @TheOttSpot and @DistrictOnDeck.