Nationals Star Prospect Jarlin Susana Leaves Latest Start with Apparent Injury

Washington Nationals pitching prospect Jarlin Susana found himself roughed up in his start on Saturday against Altoona.

Washington Nationals hats and gloves in the dugout against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning at PNC Park. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The season of Washington Nationals pitching prospect Jarlin Susana may have hit a significant bump on Saturday night at Double-A Harrsiburg.

Harrisburg hosted Altoona on Saturday and Susana headed to the mound for his final start of the month. To this point, he’s had an impressive month, his full month of the season since April. Well, Altoona proved to be more than he could handle.

He had an erratic outing, as he allowed three earned runs, three walks and struck out three in just 1.2 innings before he left the game after throwing 33 pitches. But the worst part was how he left — with an apparent injury.

After striking out Altoona’s Tres Gonzalez, there was an injury delay and Susana left the game. The contest was broadcast for free by MiLB.tv, but Nats Talk on X (formerly Twitter) reported he left the game with an injury. A replay of the game saw Susana walked off the mound trying to make a fist with his right arm. The injury was also recorded in the game’s play by play, but didn’t indicate what was injured.

Jarlin Susana’s Season

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It hasn’t been the easiest of campaigns for Susana. The No. 2 pitching prospect in the system was diagnosed with a grade one right elbow strain in early May and Washington, out of an abundance of caution, shut him down.

Before the break, he was 0-1 in six starts. More importantly, he had given up two or more earned runs in five of those six starts. The dominant strikeout stuff was there, as he had 38 punchouts in 26 innings, including 20 walks.

When he returned, he made three rehab starts at High-A Wilmington before he returned to Harrisburg on Aug. 7. He entered Saturday's game on a great run. In five starts in August he was 1-0 with a 1.52 ERA, with 44 strikeouts and nine walks in 23.2 innings. He had given up just 10 hits and four earned runs and batters were hitting just .128 against him.

Before Saturday’s game he was 1-3 with a 3.13 ERA in 13 games, with 92 strikeouts and 31 walks in 54.2 innings. Batters were hitting just .200 against him, which would be close to his career low of .179 in 2022.  

MLB Pipeline has the 21-year-old right-hander ranked as the organization’s No. 3 prospect behind first-round pick Eli Willits, who is at Class-A Fredericksburg, and pitcher Travis Sykora. But Sykora will be out for at least a year after he suffered an elbow injury that led to Tommy John surgery.

Jarlin Susana’s Career

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Susana is the last piece of the Juan Soto trade in 2022 that has not yet reached the Majors. At the time of the trade, he was one of the youngest players in the deal and Nats leadership knew he needed the most time to ramp up.

Susana had a breakthrough season in 2024. He pitched for Fredericksburg and High-A Wilmington and went 4-10 with a 4.34 ERA in 24 starts. His record didn’t jump off the page, but his stuff did. He showed off a high-level fastball, which was clocked as high as 103 mph. That allowed him to put up dominant numbers — 157 strikeouts against 48 walks in 103.2 innings.

How long it takes Susana to reach the Majors will be dependent on his progress and his health. At this rate a call-up in late 2026 or 2027 is possible.