Nationals Prospects: Sean Paul Linan has a special changeup

The Washington Nationals acquired Sean Paul Linan from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Alex Call trade and he is an exciting prospect

In my opinion, Sean Paul Linan was the best prospect the Washington Nationals acquired this deadline. The 20 year old right handed pitcher was part of the return that sent Alex Call to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Linan’s changeup is one of the best pitches in all of minor league baseball. Here is a look at the pitch from one of his best outings of the season.

As you can see, the pitch just has vicious movement. It is almost a screwball rather than a changeup. You can see that in the pitches shape. Since Linan got a couple emergency starts in AAA, we can see all the shapes.

What stands out to me is that Linan’s changeup is his highest spin pitch. That is very unusual. Most changeups tend to be lower spin pitches that are actually designed to kill spin. However, this changeup does just the opposite.

A comparable to this pitch is actually one of the best single pitches in baseball, Devin Williams changeup. Like Linan, Williams changeup gets a ton of spin, more than the fastball. That allows the pitch to have screwball type movement.

It is a super weird pitch and in the world of modern pitching, weird is good. Giving hitters a look they are not familiar with is a very effective way to get results. However, the changeup is not the only thing unusual about Linan.

Sean Paul Linan is an underdog story, a guy who has achieved more than he was supposed to already. He is from Colombia, not exactly a baseball powerhouse. However, there have been plenty of good Colombian baseball players. Most of them probably signed for more than the $17,500 that Linan got in 2022.

There were more highly regarded pitchers the Dodgers signed in that international class from countries with richer baseball history, but Linan turned into the best one. That is because he has one of the craziest pitches out there and has enough around it to succeed.

2025 has really been Linan’s true breakout year, which makes sense because he is just 20. This year he has a 2.78 ERA in 74.1 innings with 101 strikeouts across 3 levels. That ERA is also inflated by two AAA starts he had to make because of the Dodgers injury crisis. The Dodgers had him go straight from Low-A to Triple-A, and he understandably struggled. However, he still generated a lot of whiff on that changeup.

Besides the changeup, nothing else really pops in Linan’s arsenal but he has some solid pitches. His fastball sits around 92 MPH right now, but plays up a bit thanks to the changeup and some funky arm action. At just 20, it would be reasonable to expect his heater to gain a little bit of velocity.

If Linan could throw a fastball that sat around 94 MPH, he would become one of the better pitching prospects in baseball. He throws a cutter and a slider as well, but the two pitches kind of blend together. The breaking balls are not anything special, but they are enough to keep hitters honest.

For a young guy, he is a solid strike thrower as well. It is not perfect, but he throws plenty of strikes. In A ball, he walked a little over 3 batters per nine innings, but that spiked a bit in his emergency AAA starts.

The strikeout numbers have been crazy. For the season, he is striking out 12.23 batters per nine innings. That is a downright ridiculous number. It goes to show how special that changeup really is.

Linan is already such a fun arm and he has room to grow. The main thing I want to see is some added velocity. That would take him to the next level and could make him a top 100 prospect. Even with the low-90’s velocity, he is the best prospect the Nationals received at the deadline. However, with more heat, he could be special.

With that low-90’s fastball, he is a bit gimmicky, even if his gimmick is elite. If he can get that fastball sitting in the 93-95 MPH range, look out. At 20 years old, that is not a crazy ask either. This was a phenomenal pick up by Mike DeBartolo. Sean Paul Linan is already one of my favorite prospects in the system.

You do not see many plus-plus pitches, but Sean Paul Linan has a plus-plus changeup. I am excited to see how far that can take him in the Nationals system. We will be keeping a close eye on his development here at Federal Baseball.