{"id":19848,"date":"2026-09-15T17:13:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T21:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=19848"},"modified":"2026-09-15T17:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T21:13:36","slug":"nats-announce-underwhelming-afl-2026-rosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=19848","title":{"rendered":"Nats announce underwhelming AFL 2026 Rosters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Susana-jarlin-wp-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Susana-jarlin-wp-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Susana-jarlin-wp-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Susana-jarlin-wp-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Susana-jarlin-wp-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Susana-jarlin-wp-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Susana-jarlin-wp-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Susana heading to the AFL for some more work.  Photo Washington Post<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/2026-arizona-fall-league-rosters#nleast\">AFL rosters were announced<\/a> today.  The Nats are not well known for sending their best talent to Arizona, and this year seems no different.  We&#8217;ve announced six (6) names as of this writing, which seems a little light, so I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised to hear a few more names added in (we sent 8 last year and most teams send 8-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s who we&#8217;ve announced so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RHP Starter Jarlin Susana, AA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OF Teo Banks, High-A<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>LHP Reliever Noah Dean, AA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>LHP Starter Nolan Hughes, Low-A<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OF\/3B Jorgelys Mota, High-A<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>RHP Starter RJ Sales, High-A<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is an &#8230; interesting group, to say the least.  It includes two top 30 prospects at best (Susana and Mota), a couple of fringe at best arms (Sales and Hughes), an 18th round OF prospect who&#8217;s never been on anyone&#8217;s radar (Banks), and a frigging MLFA they signed in March who&#8217;s thrown a grand total of 14 innings for us (Dean).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Usually AFL players fall into one of several distinct categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pitchers who were injured for most of the season and who need innings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pending Rule-5 guys who they want one last look at.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Show-me pop up guys who the team wants to challenge in a less-meaningful environment<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Top Prospects to show we&#8217;re actually playing by AFL roster rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, how do these six classify w\/r\/t these rules?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Susana is clearly a top prospect, but also most nearly the entire season so he&#8217;s the classic &#8220;needs innings&#8221; case<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Banks is &#8230; a pop-up guy?  This is a 2024 18th rounder who had a .700 OPS figure this season.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dean is another weird guy; he was a 2026 MLFA of all things, and then barely pitched.  So, are we assuming the team signed him for multiple years?  He was a 2022 draftee, so he&#8217;s technically Rule-5 eligible, but this is a weird one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Hughes?  Clearly the &#8220;needs more innings&#8221; guy, in that he&#8217;s got just 7 IP this season and is on the 60-day dl as we speak.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mota could be considered a &#8220;show me&#8221; prospect, but he also only earned a promotion to High-A later in the season and he struggled badly up there; he&#8217;ll get destroyed by AA -level pitching in AFL.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sales is classical &#8220;missed most of the season and needs innings&#8221; guy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wonder if the lack of star power in our AFL roster is mostly a function of the nature of our prospect depth right now, which is for the most part either nearly in the majors, injured, or is still a teen ager.  To wit, here&#8217;s how the top 20 or so guys in the system would classify:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Already hit the Majors: Simpson, Kent, Perales, Ortiz<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Already done AFL: King, Peterson, Petry, Wallace<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Still hurt: Sykora, Rosario<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Too young or too new: Willits, Fitz-Gerald, Hacopian, Cruz, Fein, Sime, Harmon, Brunson, James, Serrano<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, thanks to aggressive promotions this season, we have almost no real Rule-5 candidates to consider.  A quick guide down the Roster Resource lists a scant few R5 candidates to even talk about (burying the lead on the annual Rule 5 analysis, but here goes).  I&#8217;m leaving out any 2026 MLFAs and\/or 60-day DL guys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>in AAA right now: Romero, Wallace, Lawson, Powell <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>in AA right now: Young, Boissiere, Made, White, Luckham, Gaston, Huff<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>in High-A right now: Polanco, Stuart, Hill<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not a lot needing protecting this coming December, and certainly not a lot in the AA range that deserves a trip to Arizona.  Boissiere? White?  I dunno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Possible candidates to consider adding if they need a few more bodies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>AAA starters like Cebert or Lyon: both over 100 IP this season though, and no real need to give them more.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AA starters like Clemmey, Tejeda, Randall, or Hartle: all have 120+ ip this year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Catchers (they always need catchers): Romero, Bazzell, Lomavita; Bazzell in particular could use time behind the plate, and Romero is R5.  <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Players who I don&#8217;t know why they&#8217;re not in the AFL:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Swan: he&#8217;s the classical arm who needs more work, is AA talent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Maybe Elijah Greene, just for humor purposes to see if he can strikeout 75% of the time?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, that&#8217;s the AFL this year.  I&#8217;ll be super curious when Susana throws, probably couldn&#8217;t care less about anyone else&#8217;s performance out there this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The AFL rosters were announced today. The Nats are not well known for sending their best talent to Arizona, and this year seems no different. We&#8217;ve announced six (6) names as of this writing, which seems a little light, so I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised to hear a few more names added in (we sent 8 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4324],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsgeneral","category-prospects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19848"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19851,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19848\/revisions\/19851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}