Washington Nationals Dazzled by Pair of Unexpected Breakout Pitching Prospects
With all the young talent the Washington Nationals have accumulated and called up to the Majors in the past couple of months, it’s worth noting that they have a deeper pipeline than highly-touted players like James Wood and Dylan Crews.
Less noticed is the young pitching the Nationals have put together. Washington already has a group of young starters that it hopes grows together the next few years — Mackenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker.
But, deeper in the minor-league system the Nationals have a pair of pitching prospects that are having unexpectedly great seasons, according to Baseball America.
The site highlighted 10 young pitching prospects identified as among the best in the minors in 2024 but were not expected to be that at the start of the season.
Jarlin Susana and Travis Sykora were the two pitchers for the Nationals. Both are Top 100 prospects per MLB Pipeline, but they’re deep enough in Washington’s system where many aren’t keeping a close eye on either of them.
Susana, a 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, doesn’t have pretty numbers — he’s 4-10 with a 4.47 ERA in 23 games with Class-A Fredericksburg and High-A Wilmington. But, oddly, he’s turned it around since he was promoted to Wilmington. He’s 3-3 with a 4.46 ERA in nine starts, with 64 strikeouts and 16 walks.
What’s really intriguing is his fastball. It’s been clocked as high as 103 mph. And, in his most recent start, he was dominant. He struck out 10 hitters in five innings and gave up two runs. He gave up seven hits, but four were infield singles.
Jarlin Susana dials it up to 102 mph en route to a career-high 10 strikeouts at High-A!
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 1, 2024
A new addition to the Top 100 Prospects list, the @Nationals 20-year-old (acquired in the Juan Soto deal) is up to 147 K's in 98.2 IP this year.@WilmBlueRocks | @Nats_PlayerDev pic.twitter.com/FrlgSbwF2F
Baseball America points out that his 11.2% walk rate is a career-low, that he has two different fastball shapes that can reach 100 mph and that his best pitch is actually a slider that generates swing-and-miss 24% of the time. In the eyes of their scouts, he’s “turned a corner.”
Susana was one of several players the Nationals received in the Juan Soto trade two years ago.
Sykora, last year’s third-round pick, is with Fredericksburg and is projected to be a 2027 call-up. The high school star out of Round Rock, Texas, is just 20 years old and, like Susana, needs more time to develop. But he has shown promise with a 5-3 record and a 2.17 ERA in 19 games.
His strikeout-to-walk rate is elite, as he’s fanned 126 against 26 walks. By percentage, he’s striking out nearly 40% of the hitters he faces and walking less than 10%. It’s a rate that translates well to the Majors.
Travis Sykora's latest gem for the Single-A @FXBGNats:
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 1, 2024
5 IP | 1 H | 0 R | 1 BB | 9 K
The @Nationals' third-ranked prospect lowers his ERA to 2.17 across 19 starts, with 13.7 K/9 and an opponents' OPS of .465. pic.twitter.com/cLb494QkiB
Baseball America highlights his ability to mix a four-seam fastball, a slider and a split changeup at such a young age. His splitter induces a swinging strike rate just below 30%. He also has a consistent fastball that gets to 95 mph but can occasionally get as high as 99 mph.
The Nationals don’t want to rush either prospect. But if this is what is in the pipeline, Washington may be in great shape when it comes to young pitching.
