SCOTTSDALE, Az. — We traveled to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to see the flamethrower Jarlin Susana. We saw exactly the pitcher we expected at the 2027 Fall Stars game, the annual All-Star game of the Arizona Fall League.

There is a typical pattern with Susana. He starts off brilliantly then quickly loses focus. He threw three well-executed pitches to the lead-off hitter, Zion Rose, and froze him on a strike-3 sweeper in a 1-2 count after throwing him three straight fastballs clocked at 102.1 to 103.1 mph.

The second batter who Susana faced, Welbyn Francisca, grounded out on the 5th pitch (four technically were pitched by Susana as he was penalized an automatic ball as the pitch clock expired). The third batter was a loss of focus by Susana. He walked him on four consecutive balls well out of the zone. The fourth batter, Antonio Anderson, got a bloop single. The fifth and final batter who Susana faced, Vance Honeycutt, was caught looking for a strikeout.

Susana topped out at 103.1 mph, and had two strikeouts, one groundout, one hit, one walk, one wild pitch, and no runs. His velo dropped quickly and his final fastball in his one inning of work and 22 pitches was clocked at 100.4 mph. Unfortunately, Susana only threw 11 strikes of his 22 pitches. Again the good news, he had a 0.00 ERA, meaning no runs surrendered.

Here are the five batters who Susana faced:

1. Zion Rose, LF (KC)
2. Welbyn Francisca, SS (CLE)
3. Kyle DeBarge, 2B (MIN)
4. Antonio Anderson, 1B (BOS)
5. Vance Honeycutt, CF (BAL)

The Washington Nationals had three All-Stars in this game with Susana, outfielder Teo Banks, and catcher Kevin Bazzell. Banks got two at-bats and had a flyout and reached on a hit-by-pitch. Bazzell subbed in during the 7th inning and led-off the 8th inning with a booming double. He eventually scored the go-ahead run for the NL squad. Even though the NL was ahead in the 9th inning, they batted anyway in the bottom of the 9th and Bazzell walked in his 2nd plate appearance.

The Arizona Fall League wraps up on Saturday with the league championship game. Our plan is to attend that game also.

Cover photo by Steve Mears for Talk DC Sports