Jarlin Susana is tapping into his full potential. All it took was trust.On the field, no one has ever doubted Jarlin Susana’s ability. But to reach his full potential, both the pitcher and his organization needed to believe they were committed to the same goal.
Golden profile of Susana's development.
The article talks about the lengthy process of building trust between the player and the coaching staff on what the coaches wanted him to do to, in the F-burg manager's phrasing, get out of Low A ball and moving towards the majors. Talks about Eddie Longosz with Ricky Gutierrez) reaching out during spring training about building and earning mutual trust.
Gutierrez could sense Susana was listening intently during that spring training meeting, taking it all in. Eventually, Longosz pointed toward the empty field. He asked Susana whether he wanted to play in the big leagues one day. Susana said yes before turning to Gutierrez and saying, “I want to be where you’re at.”
“As far as Latin players, that’s their biggest thing — trust,” Gutierrez said. “And once they find someone or people that they can trust, I think they can let their guard down and just be themselves.”
There's a lot in their about building trust in Justin Lord, the F-burg pitching coach, and realizing he was riding Susana not out of dislike but wanting to get more out of him. Initially, Susana resisted Lord's saying he wanted him to change from a hard-thrower to a pitcher a complete pitcher who threw hard (like using the curve better). Also Susana getting used to playing full season in front of larger crowds, and cleaning up his diet and prep.
The conversation with Lowery was the turning point in the season. After that, Susana started to work longer bullpens, do more shoulder strengthening and other drills, and see results leading up to his promotion.
“Sometimes you got to let guys get to a point where they’re at a breaking point,” Lord said. “That’s where they listen the most. … And I think that he had to get to that point to where he was willing to, whatever we had for him, he wanted it. And he got his season and possibly his career turned around.”
Max Romero is kind of Susana's confidante and "big brother." They are back together in Wilmington, which helps.
More or less, I take from the profile that a chunk of the problem was social. Maturing and trusting a bit on Susana's part, figuring out how to reach him on the staff's part. Finding a way to coach him without repressing what made him good.
