Nationals’ Jarlin Susana Dominates Again
In his four starts since he returned from a three-month stint on the injured list with an elbow sprain, Nationals righthander Jarlin Susana is 1-0, 1.83 for Double-A Harrisburg. He has allowed nine hits and nine walks while striking out 38 of the 76 batters he has faced this month for a 50% strikeout rate.
In watching those four starts, it becomes clear that those stats underrate how dominant he’s been. Since shaking off the rust in his first start, Susana has allowed five hits in 15 innings while striking out 32 batters, an average of more than two strikeouts per inning.
He has allowed three runs over that stretch. One was not his fault: his center fielder forgot the number of outs so a runner scored from second on a lazy fly ball to center field. Susana retired the next batter to end the inning. One was an extremely impressive home run by Kevin McGonigle. And on Sunday, he walked in Kevin McGonigle with the bases loaded.
McGonigle drew two of Erie’s three walks. He’s the one hitter in the Erie lineup who seemed able to handle Susana in two starts this week. McGonigle was 1-for-2 with two walks, a home run and a strikeout against Susana. The rest of a very talented Erie lineup went 3-for-32 with three walks and 23 strikeouts.
Overall, Susana allowed two hits, one run and walked three in five innings while striking out 10 on Sunday. He regularly got to 100+ mph with his fastball, and touched 103 in his first start of the week.
His 85-87 mph slider was even more effective than his fastball on Sunday. But then he also relied on this weapon of a changeup on Sunday.
A hitter facing Susana has to gear up for 102 mph at the top of the zone. Adjusting from that to hit an 85-88 mph slider with power and depth is an extremely challenging task in itself. But when Susana is throwing 94 mph changeups that veer right at the plate like this, hitters should consider coming to the plate waving a white flag.
