Oh, Susana! Nationals’ Prospect Hot And Cold In Arizona Fall League

Jarlin Susana has elite skills often obscured by maddening imperfections. Toss in missing time due to injury and it makes the Washington Nationals’ prospect a perfect player for The Arizona Fall League.

Susana opened the 2026 AFL season with a 103.4 mph fastball. That was the fastest recorded pitch since league records for such things began in 2015. The “record” lasted two innings, when he topped it at 103.8.

“Everything went well,” he understated in a post-came interview.

Three weeks and four starts later, the 6-foot-6 right-hander has a 5.73 ERA that if not for two unearned runs would be an even more unsightly 7.36.

After two starts, he had a 1.59 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 8 strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings, allowing only three hits. But on Oct. 16, he was routed for 5 runs over 2 1/3 innings, fanning only 1. He got back on track yesterday, striking out 6 over 3 innings and allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 3 walks.

“I think he’s the best pitcher in the minors,” catcher Kevin Bazzell told Sam Dykstra of MLB.com after the game. “Definitely got the best stuff. When he gets in the zone, it’s pretty close to unhittable. It’s as hard as it’s going to be. Really good spin. Today he looked good. I think he looks pretty good every single time.”

Earlier this month, Jessica Camerato wrote this even better tale for MLB.com:

Nationals president of baseball operations Paul Toboni recently recounted an interaction between Susana and rehab coordinator Dan Mahoney while Susana was rehabbing at the Nats’ training facility in Florida. Mahoney tasked Susana with throwing between 97 and 99 mph “as you get loose.”

Susana clocked 100-plus.

Toboni said Mahoney reinforced the message: “Jarlin, I’m telling you, you have to have it closer to 97. We don’t want to ramp it up this quickly.”

Susana agreed. Then he threw triple digits again.

“[Susana] just turned to him and he’s like, ‘I’m trying. I’m trying,’” Toboni said. “So, he’s just a unique bird in that respect.”

Mr. Big

Everything about Susana’s career thus far has been big.

• He is big. Six-foot-six, 235 pounds.
• He got big money to sign – $1.7 million from the San Diego Padres at age 17 on Jan. 15, 2022.
• He has a big fastball. In his first AFL start, 34 of his 36 fastball were 100 mph or more.
• He was in a big trade. On Aug. 2, 2022, Susana, LHP MacKenzie Gore, SS C.J. Abrams, OFs James Wood and Robert Hassell III and 1B Luke Voit were all dealt to Washington for OF Juan Soto and 1B Josh Bell.
• He’s a big project. Despite all his promise, Susana has a 6-23 record and 4.18 ERA over 76 games (75 starts) in the minor leagues. In eight games this year, Susana struck out 37 in 20 1/3 innings but had a 6.20 ERA.

International Showcase

Susana was the top-rated pitcher in the 2021-22 international signing class. Fourteen players signed for more money, topped by Cuban outfielder Cristhian Vaquero’s $4.925 million from the Nationals.

Right now, that signing appears to have been a disaster.

In 371 games in the minors, Vaquero has hit only .234 with 20 home runs and 144 RBI, though he does have 109 stolen bases in 137 attempts.

The Chicago White Sox had it worse. They signed Cuban outfielder Oscar Colas for $2.7 million and promoted him to the majors a year later. In 88 MLB games over 2023 and 2024, he hit .223 with 5 homers, 23 RBI – and was released. He’s now playing in Mexico.

Luis Lara has made the most impact at the big-league level from that international class.

Signed for $1.1 million, the little (5-foot-7) Venezuelan will set foot on baseball’s biggest stage tomorrow night. Called up on July 7 at age 21, the speedy outfielder became one of the part that has helped the Milwaukee Brewers make the World Series.

The most bang for the buck from the 2022 international class thus far has come from Josue De Paula. Signed for just $397,000, he hit .323 in 11 games this year for the Los Angeles Dodgers. That came after the left-handed outfielder hit .303 with 27 homers and 104 RBI at Double-A Tulsa to earn the promotion.

Susana’s Arsenal

Scouts grade the big Dominican’s slider on a par with both his elite four-seam and two-seam fastballs, but give poor marks on his changeup and overall command.

The four-seamer doesn’t move much, but at 100+ mph and Susana’s overall wildness, he doesn’t need anything else darting out of the strike zone, too. The two-seamer has more movement and less command.

Susana’s 88-96 mph slider moves across or drops, depending on arm angle. Either variety produces swing-ands-miss along with strike-zone miss.

He displayed the high heat and the big bender in a Double-A game in 2025.

A reliable changeup could be a huge weapon, but Susana needs to command the other offerings before trying to refine a fourth pitch.

The Nationals are trying to get Susana to calm down his delivery in an effort to gain command. They also want him to work on building stamina as he often starts a game in fine shape but quickly fades. That has led to talk of him being converted to relief, though the Nationals still want to see if they can develop a light’s-out starter.

With the way the game is trending, soo there may be little difference in the roles anyway.

The Nationals are happy that Susana is pitching pain free and lighting up the radar gun. The goal is to get him doing it consistently in a Washington Nationals uniform as soon as possible.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com