Nats' Susana brings heat as advertised to the desert in Fall League debut

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- When Jarlin Susana is healthy and around the zone, he’s proven to be pretty unhittable. 

MLB's No. 66 prospect struggled with the former for much of the past two seasons, with an elbow sprain keeping him out for more than two months in 2025 followed by a lat tear that required surgery ending that season and keeping him off the mound until August of this year.

The latter hasn’t been so great either, with a career 4.8 BB/9 rate. But the high-octane heater and wipeout slider missed a whole lot of bats (13.0 K/9) and getting him more reps in the Arizona Fall League made a whole lot of sense for the Nationals. The Nationals' No. 4 prospect got the ball in the Salt River Rafters' opener and showed off both sides of his game during his AFL debut. 

The 6-foot-6 Susana was scattered in his first frame against the Glendale Desert Dogs, throwing 26 pitches, but only 12 for strikes. He threw five straight balls and walked two, but he also struck out two.

After that, though, Susana showed why it’s too soon to think about putting him in a bullpen. He threw a total of 29 pitches over the rest of his outing, 21 for strikes, without showing any signs of wavering stuff. He finished with just one hit and two walks allowed and four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. 

“I felt good,” Susana said. “I was a little uncomfortable at the beginning with the heat, but everything went well. 

“It happens at the beginning, first inning of the Fall League. I had to readjust and started throwing strikes after that. It was mental. I just think about what I’m doing wrong and then I fix it on the mound.”

Mixing in some sinking two-seamers with his four-seamer, Susana averaged around 101.6 mph with his heaters. He threw 36 of them overall and all but one of them were at least 100 mph,  topping out at 103.8, according to Statcast. A breakdown:

103 mph or higher -- 10 pitches
102 mph or higher -- 11 pitches
101 mph or higher -- 12 pitches 
100 mph or higher -- 2 pitches 

“I go up there, whatever God has for me that day, I just want to go and attack the one,” Susana said. “It’s part of my work, it’s part of my build. I just want to go out there and throw strikes.”

He elicited five swings-and-misses with the hard stuff, got three called strikes and racked up two of his strikeouts via the fastball. But Susana is more than just his fastball, of course. He threw 19 sliders, getting four whiffs, four called strikes and his other two strikeouts with a breaker that averaged around 86 mph and a spin rate close to 2,900 rpm. 

“I felt good with [the slider],” he said. “I felt like it was good in the zone. Sometimes I throw it just to find my fastball.”

That Susana was able to find the zone again after that first uneven inning is a very good sign for a right-hander who didn’t throw a competitive pitch this year until Aug. 11. It was only the second time all year he pitched into the fourth inning and was a nice continuation of the two scoreless frames he threw in the Triple-A National Championship Game exactly one week ago. 

“I feel good, especially being here in the Fall League; I feel happy,” Susana said.