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By The Washington Nationals selected the contracts of left-handed pitcher Jake Bennett, right-handed pitcher Riley Cornelio and outfielder Christian Franklin on Tuesday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni made the announcements.
Bennett, 24, went 2-5 with a 2.27 ERA, 64 strikeouts and 19 walks in 75.1 innings across 19 games (18 starts) between Single-A Fredericksburg, High-A Wilmington and Double-A Harrisburg in 2025, his second professional season. The No. 6 prospect in the organization according to Baseball America, Bennett posted a 0.87 ERA (2 ER/20.2 IP) with 20 strikeouts in six starts from June 15-July 13 for Wilmington before being promoted to Harrisburg on July 22.
Bennett is coming off an Arizona Fall League season in which he led the league in strikeouts (25) and finished second in innings pitched (20.0) in five games (four starts) for Scottsdale.
A native of Bixby, Oklahoma, Bennett was originally selected in the second round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Oklahoma. He’s pitched to a 2.67 ERA with 137 strikeouts and a .238 opponents’ batting average in 34 professional games since the start of the 2023 season.
Cornelio, 25, was Washington’s 2025 Minor League Pitcher of the Year after leading the system in ERA (3.28), opponents average (.205) and starts (26) and ranked second in strikeouts (135), WHIP (1.15) and innings (134.1). He went 6-7 with a 3.28 ERA, 135 strikeouts and 55 walks in 134.1 innings across 27 games (26 starts) between High-A Wilmington, Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester, setting career marks in nearly every category during his fourth professional season.
In his second start of the season, Cornelio struck out a career-high 10 batters in 5.0 innings of three-hit ball on April 12 against Hub City (TEX). From that point through July 27, Cornelio pitched to a 2.07 ERA (21 ER/91.1 IP) with 90 strikeouts and a 5-2 record across 17 games (16 starts). He pitched at least 6.0 innings in seven of those games and held opponents to a .170 average during this span.
Cornelio was originally selected in the seventh round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft out of Texas Christian University.
Franklin, 25, hit .272 with a .390 on-base percentage and a .427 slugging percentage in 117 games between Triple-A Rochester and Triple-A Iowa (CHI) in his fourth professional season in 2025. He walked 80 times, tied for the most in the International League and tied for fifth most in all of Triple-A Baseball, while his .390 on-base percentage was good for ninth in the International League. Franklin added 23 doubles, five triples, 12 home runs 64 RBI, 19 stolen bases and 77 runs scored between the two stops.
The right-handed hitting Franklin ranks eighth in Minor League Baseball with a .394 on-base percentage and tied for 12th with 151 walks over the last two seasons.
Originally selected by the Chicago Cubs in the fourth round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Arkansas, Franklin was acquired from the Cubs at the trade deadline along with shortstop Ronny Cruz in exchange for right-handed pitcher Michael Soroka.
