NEW YORK — After toiling eight seasons in the minor leagues, not many of PJ Poulin’s boyhood heroes are still in the majors.
There is one. Bryce Harper, who made his first big splash as a rookie in 2012, when Poulin was a sophomore in high school. A couple of weeks ago, Poulin at last found himself on the mound in the big leagues, and staring, no less, at Harper, 60 feet, 6 inches away.
“There’s a picture of me, my Mom and Dad sent it to me, in a Harper jersey,” Poulin said. “I had a Harper jersey growing up. So he was one of the guys, I was like, ‘wow, Bryce Harper, he’s a legend.’”
Did he get him? Modestly, almost sheepishly, Poulin whispered, “Yeah, I struck him out.”
To get here, Poulin, 29, lefty closer on UConn teams that ventured deep into the NCAA Tournament, persevered through long seasons in the minor leagues, most of it in the Rockies organization, including a two stints with the Yard Goats. At Triple-A Albuquerque in 2022 and ’23, he seemed to reach his ceiling, unable to crash through, pitching to a 6.20 ERA.
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“Those are the days I went through and think about how hard it was to get through those days,” Poulin said, about to pull on his uniform for the start of the Nationals’ three-game series at Yankee Stadium Monday night, “and I kind of lean on that now, even when I have tough days now. … I never really thought about giving it up, but there have definitely been some days when it was hard, and I tried to lean on that gritty mindset, that UConn Husky mindset, and continue to put in the work, and the days, and believe deep down that good things are going to happen.”
He moved to the Tigers organization in 2024 and this summer, the light went on for Poulin at Toledo, Detroit’s Triple-A affiliate. Poulin, a lefthander, was 7-1 with a 3.38 ERA, and 62 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings, putting his entire repertoire, fastball, sinker, slider and changeup, in play.
“It’s hard to put my finger on something that’s clicked,” Poulin said. “The big thing this year has been the use of all my pitches in general. In the past, I’d lean on one pitch or another, but this year I’ve been able to lean on everything, which makes it harder for the hitters.”
Washington Nationals pitcher PJ Poulin throws during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr.)
After making their acquisitions at the trade deadline, the first-place Tigers needed to open a spot on their 40-man roster and tried to sneak Poulin through waivers, then hold onto him. Instead, the Nationals put in a claim, got Poulin and immediately promoted him to the major leagues Aug. 5. That night, he had family and friends from Marion, Mass., in the stands. When he began to warm up, he looked up in the seating area behind the bullpen and saw UConn coach Jim Penders, pitching coach Josh MacDonald and director of baseball operations and longtime broadcaster Chris Jones, who’d jumped on the Amtrak as soon as they heard the news. Poulin is the ninth Penders player to reach the majors.
“My time at UConn is a lot of who I am now,” Poulin said. “Coach Penders and Mac and Jeff Hourigan and Chris Podeszwa talked about it a lot, that blue collar mentality. I really think that has helped me grind through the minor leagues for so long, just be relentless in what we do. The road has not been easy, at times it has been incredibly hard, but I feel like that blue-collar mind set, that gritty, UConn Husky mindset, has helped me grind my way through it.”
Poulin, pictured here in 2018, set the all-time saves record that season at UConn. (Photo courtesy: UConn Athletics)
The Nationals lost 16-7 to the A’s that night, but Poulin debuted with a scoreless inning. He allowed a run and took the loss the first time against the Phillies on Aug. 15, though he retired the first two batters he faced, Kyle Schwarber on a pop up and Harper on a called third strike. He faced the Mets twice last week, and retired Juan Soto on a strikeout and a fly out. Last Friday, Poulin retired all six Phillies he faced to get his first major league win, closing out the 5-4 victory after the Nationals took the lead.
After his scoreless inning in Washington’s 10-5 loss to the Yankees Monday, Poulin has a 1.64 ERA in eight appearances, with 12 strikeouts in 11 innings. Aaron Judge, retired on a comebacker, Harper, Schwarber, Soto, Francisco Lindor and Bobby Witt Jr. are a combined 0-for-10 with three strikeouts against Poulin.
“He’s not scared to throw strikes,” Nationals manager Miguel Cairo said. “He has no fear to go after the hitter, he mixes his pitches very well. When you do that, you’re going to have a chance to have success against any kind of hitter. He’s a lefty, something we were looking for, and he’s been doing an excellent job.”
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The Nationals have been mired at or near the bottom of the NL East since their 2019 World Series victory, unloading most of their stars, including Harper and Soto, in the ensuing years. Now they are building, but under Cairo, a former Yankee player who took over when Dave Martinez was fired early in the season, the young Nats (53-78), are not mailing in the rest of the season. They beat the contending Mets two out of three and split four with the first-place Phillies on their last homestand.
“Since I’ve been here, the energy has been positive, it’s been great,” Poulin said. “It’s on the upswing here. We’ve been playing some good ball, and we just want to keep building on that and prove we’re a good team. We’re going to fight, we’re going to keep playing and we’re going to grind.”
Poulin’s most memorable day at UConn was in the 2018 NCAA Tournament at Coastal Carolina. Facing elimination and out of starters, Penders gave the ball to Poulin, his closer with 16 saves. Poulin threw six innings, 98 pitches, and the Huskies eventually won. It’s experiences like that, and a track record of doing whatever it takes, that got Poulin to the big leagues after a long road, facing some of the best hitters of the generation and so far holding his own. Effective, durable lefty relievers can have a nine-life career in the majors.
“It’s been awesome, these past few weeks have been really, really awesome,” Poulin said. “I dreamt about playing in the big leagues as a kid, and I’ve been able to make it happen. It’s a blessing. It was a long road, but it was so, so worth it.”
