Jackson Kent pitches through trouble, earns a standing ovation in his Nationals debut
The 23-year-old lefty faced his hometown Cubs at Nationals Park on Wednesday night, and even in a 12-6 loss, he left the mound to applause from both dugouts' fan bases. It was the kind of debut that tells you something about a prospect.
In brief
Jackson Kent pitches through trouble, earns a standing ovation in his Nationals debut
There was a moment on Wednesday night at Nationals Park when the noise didn't quite make sense. Jackson Kent had just been pulled from the game - five walks, a laboring first inning, 78 pitches thrown with only 37 landing for strikes - and yet the crowd stood up. Both sides of it. Cubs and Nationals fans alike rose to give him a standing ovation as he walked off the mound.
That's what a debut looks like when the arm is real, even if the night isn't.
Kent, ranked as the Nationals' No. 8 prospect by MLB Pipeline, started against Chicago on August 12 - the team he grew up watching. He attended Lake Park High School in Roselle, Illinois, around 30 miles from Wrigley Field. That detail alone made Wednesday night stranger than most big-league debuts. Kent wasn't just facing his first major-league lineup. He was facing the franchise he cheered for as a kid.
Chicago feasts on left-handed pitching. Entering Wednesday, the Cubs had posted the highest on-base percentage (.357), slugging percentage (.449) and weighted runs created plus (124) against lefties in the majors. For a 23-year-old making his first start, that matchup is about as rough a draw as the schedule can produce.
He did not sail through it. Kent allowed three runs in four-plus innings, with three hits and five walks, in Washington's 12-6 loss to the Cubs. Only 37 of his 78 pitches were strikes. Pitching coach Simon Mathews visited the mound in the first after consecutive walks. It was bumpy.
But the strikeouts were real. Kent's first big-league batter was Pete Crow-Armstrong, who entered with a .939 OPS against southpaws this season. Five pitches later, Kent had recorded his first career strikeout, capped with a called third strike on a 95.8 mph fastball. He ended the night with six punchouts total - more strikeouts than base runners allowed via hits.
He was pulled after allowing a single, a walk and an RBI double to Crow-Armstrong in the fifth. The deficit was already steep. Jake Bird came on and gave up a three-run homer to Alex Bregman to push the Cubs to a 4-1 lead, and while the Nationals answered with some timely baserunning, left-hander Tom Cosgrove struggled as Chicago surged in a five-run sixth.
Kent's own read on the performance was blunt. "I really didn't have my best stuff, I think probably had my C stuff," he said. "So I really don't need to change anything. It's just getting better from here." Kent went 9-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 20 starts between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Rochester this season. He had 105 strikeouts in 94⅓ minor league innings before Washington called him up.
He also did not pretend the moment was ordinary. "What I got told here was it was just another game," Kent said. "It's what I've been doing my whole life. Don't need to change anything. It was cool to play against the hometown team that I grew up watching and going to games."
Manager Blake Butera had called it before the first pitch. "There will be nerves," Butera said. "There will be excitement, of course. There's no way to hide that. I want him to go out there and make the most of it. You only get one debut and you're lucky to have it because a lot of people want it."
Why this matters for Washington's rebuild
The Nationals are not going to the playoffs this year. That much became clear when the front office dealt away top offensive talent before the trade deadline, adding a haul of predominantly young players in exchange - two top offensive pieces and their best starting pitcher, gone over nine days. Of the 10 players acquired, nine are pitchers and six are still developing toward their major-league debuts.
Kent is part of that calculus. The Nationals needed to clear a roster spot for him, which meant designating veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas for assignment to call up the No. 8 prospect Jackson Kent. Mikolas had reached 10 years of big-league service time. Kent is 23. The math on that transaction is not subtle.
Kent works with a four-seam fastball that sits 92-96 mph with cut to it, paired with a low-to-mid-80s changeup, a curveball and a slider. His four-seamer at Rochester had a whiff rate of 28.3 percent. Both his changeup and curveball topped 40 percent whiff rates. His slider checked in at 28.8 percent. Against the best left-handed-pitching lineup in the majors, he posted six strikeouts. In four-plus innings. With C stuff, he said.
Washington's front office has been running prospects out to Nationals Park in waves since the deadline, auditioning the system in real time. Since the trade deadline, the Nationals have given prospects a taste of the major leagues as they evaluate the talent in their system. Kent is the latest. There will be more starts, and they should get cleaner as August turns to September and the roster opens up further.
Wednesday's crowd seemed to understand what it was watching. As Kent left the mound, both Nationals and Cubs fans rose to give him a standing ovation. The final score was 12-6. Didn't seem to matter much to anyone in that moment.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
