Jake Bennett: Up-And-Coming Dynasty Player

While the players take the week off during the All-Star break, those of us here at Razzball get no break, so welcome back to another Up-and-Coming Dynasty Player entry.

This week I am highlighting left-handed pitcher Jake Bennett. Bennett has had a very productive rookie season with the Boston Red Sox and has been a bright spot in the Boston rotation. He does not wow anyone with his fastball, but he gets hitters out, and that is the name of the game when it comes to pitching.

Let’s dive in and take a look at Bennett, an up-and-coming dynasty player.

The Stats

Jake Bennett was drafted twice by the Washington Nationals, first out of high school in the 39th round of the 2019 draft and then again in the second round of the 2022 draft. A native of Bixby in Oklahoma, Bennett didn’t sign with the Nationals after graduating high school and instead chose to pitch for the University of Oklahoma. Bennett had his best season as a junior as he went 10-4 with a 3.69 ERA and 1.094 WHIP while striking out 10.2 batters per nine innings and walking only 1.7 per nine innings.

In the postseason, he won four of his five starts to help the Sooners reach the College World Series. After the draft, he signed with the Nationals, but he didn’t make his professional debut until 2023 and was having a solid season before suffering an elbow injury in August and then undergoing Tommy John surgery in September, forcing him to miss the 2024 campaign. Returning to the mound in 2025, Bennett pitched at three different levels before being traded to the Red Sox this past offseason.

Bennett started the 2026 season at Triple-A before being recalled to the majors after nine starts.

The Tools

• Four Seam Fastball: 34% | 93.0 mph

Bennett’s fastball is an average pitch in terms of velocity, as the MLB average fastball by lefties is 93.5 mph while Bennett throws his four-seamer at 93.0 mph. Throwing it 38% of the time vs. righties and 20% vs. lefties, this pitch is very successful for him. Consistently throwing the pitch at the top of the zone, he gets great run on the pitch as it has 3.9 inches more tail away from right-handed hitters, but he is not afraid to attack righties inside with the pitch, as seen here. The result is a .231 batting average against with a measly .385 SLG.

• Sinker: 28% | 92.6 mph

Thrown 50% of the time vs. left-handed hitters, this pitch pairs well with Bennett’s four-seamer as he throws it lower in the zone with great movement. Compared to other left-handed pitchers, the sinker has 1.5 inches more tail and 2.8 inches more drop. Opposing hitters have a .264 batting average against the sinker with a .358 SLG thanks to an average EV of 83.6 mph.

• Change: 26% | 83.6 mph

This is the pitch that Jake Bennett has used to great effect against hitters. His Statcast numbers paint it as an average pitch as it has 1.8 inches less tail and 0.7 inches less drop compared to other lefties. But he has great command of the pitch that he uses to attack hitters down in the zone. The result is a pitch that has a .140 batting average against and a .140 SLG with a 32.3% Whiff%. Hitters have only an 80.2 mph average EV against the pitch.

• Sweeper: 5% | 79.5 mph / Curve: 5% | 79.2 mph / Cutter: 3% | 85.4 mph

Bennett throws three other pitches in the sweeper, the curve, and the cutter. Combined, hitters are not faring well against these pitches either, with a .238 batting average and SLG. The sweeper has great movement as it produces 6.9% more drop while coming in at an average speed of 79.5 mph. He then mixes in his curve to attack hitters at or below the bottom of the strike zone and then tosses in a cutter every so often as a change of pace.

The Results

• The “Good”

Jake Bennett does a great job of nibbling at the corners. So far this season, he has thrown 43.4% of his pitches at the edge of the zone compared to the league average of 39%. In fact, thanks to the movement he gets on his pitches, he has thrown 53.3% of his offerings outside of the zone. The league average is 51.1%. The results of his pitch movement and command have produced a ground ball rate of 51.4%, and hitters have only a 7% barrel percentage, which is league average.

Bennett is a pitcher who does a great job of mixing and locating his pitches to keep hitters off balance. You can see the results of his approach in the chart above. That is a lot of nice, red bars. The only area where he is below, or way below league average, is his fastball velocity, Whiff% and K% percentiles.

• The “Bad”

The lack of strikeouts is a negative against Bennett in leagues that use strikeout totals or K/9 ratio. But he has a very nice K/BB ratio of 4.38, and the lack of strikeouts may be an anomaly right now. In college, he had a 10.4 K/9 rate, and that rate was 9.0 in the minors. With the Red Sox, the strikeout rate has been a mixed bag. In his two May starts, he had a 3.5 K/9 rate. It then jumped to 8.3 in four June starts but is currently at 6.1 this month.

• In the end…

If high strikeout totals or K/9 rates are your thing, Bennett is not the pitcher for you. But if having a low WHIP and ERA are two stats you like, then Bennett is your man, because in the end, I want pitchers who get hitters out and not kill my ERA and WHIP.

And in a sport where starting pitchers are struggling to reach six or more innings of work per outing, Bennett is showing the ability to buck that trend. In his last four starts, Bennett has thrown 6.0, 6.1, 7.2, and 7.0 innings. In those starts, he is 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA (and 2.77 FIP for those who like that stat) and 0.70 WHIP and 7.3 K/9 rate.

Getting Jake Bennett onto your roster is becoming more difficult as he has been added more and more to fantasy rosters. Right now, he is rostered in 53% of Yahoo leagues. But players in ESPN leagues are slow to jump on the bandwagon, as he is rostered in only 37% of leagues.

Thanks!

Thank you for reading, and come back again next week.