The Nationals are recalling right-hander Luis Perales from Triple-A Rochester, as first reported on X by @saborio30play. Washington optioned righty Jake Bird after tonight’s loss to Colorado.
Perales is already on the 40-man roster, so there won’t be any other moves. It’s technically a recall even though it’s Perales’ first big league promotion. The 23-year-old has been on optional assignment to Rochester all season.
This is Perales’ first year in the Washington organization. The Nationals and Red Sox lined up on the rare prospect for prospect swap of Perales for Jake Bennett last offseason. (It’s surely not a coincidence that president of baseball operations Paul Toboni was hired out of Boston.) Bennett made his debut in early May and has held a rotation spot for the Red Sox since the beginning of June. He has a 3.49 earned run average in his first 15 career starts.
Perales was a little further off because of his injury history. He missed most of the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Perales has been healthy this year aside from a minimal injured list stint in late May. He has logged 96 1/3 innings with a 3.64 ERA for the Red Wings, striking out a solid 23.5% of opponents with a 47% grounder percentage. Perales has an intriguing combination of whiffs and ground-balls but has struggled to throw strikes, walking more than 13% of batters faced.
That’s in line with the broader track record. He has big stuff and well below-average command. The Venezuela native has averaged 98.5 mph on his fastball while mixing a cutter, changeup and occasional slider. The Nationals have continued developing him as a starter for much of the season but shortened him into 1-2 inning relief stints a few weeks ago. While that’s probably about workload management, there’s a decent chance Perales ends up in the bullpen regardless given the control questions.
Washington’s 7-16 showing in August has ended whatever long shot playoff hope they might’ve harbored. They’re in evaluation mode for the final month. Perales will get his first opportunity to impress the coaching staff as he tries to secure an Opening Day spot in 2027.
