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Jarlin Susana (RHP)Current level (age): Rehabbing in Florida (22)The Athletic’s rank: No. 6 in the Nats’ preseason Top 20.What he’s doing: Throwing 102 in his first bullpen.What it means: He’s still got it, but probably won’t show it in Washington this year.Nationals reliever Max Kranick had never seen anything like it.He spent his first month with the organization rehabbing with Susana at the team’s complex in Florida. One day, he stopped and stared as Susana took a running start and delivered a max effort throw. The radar read 106 mph. In his first bullpen, Susana hit 102.“We would never want a guy to get to 102 in their first bullpen, but he was doing it with very little effort,” farm director Devin Pearson told The Athletic. “Setting his velo ranges are different than any other player we’ve kind of worked with. So we’re still trying to figure that out. But it’s more of an effort level thing than velocity at this time. We wanted to be smart about that.”If Susana, who underwent lat surgery in 2025, does not suffer any setbacks (and he has not had any yet) the team expects he will face hitters by the end of the season. Washington has not yet determined whether that will come in games or a more controlled environment. The chances of an MLB debut this year feel exceptionally slim.Once he is back to 100 percent, the organization will work with him on his command, and could experiment in turning his word-class slider into two distinct pitches. That, of course, is TBD.Officials within the organization say they still view him as a starter, and will continue to do so until he proves them otherwise. Few arms, of course, can sustain 102 mph heaters and high-spin sliders on a starter’s workload. But the Nationals are banking that Susana’s sturdy 6-foot-6 frame and athleticism can handle the stress that sitting triple-digits puts on the body.
So we went from sometime in summer to hopefully seeing live batters by the end of the year. Not great.
But not surprising. No need to push it.
102
