Follow the Prospects: Travis Sykora, RHP

[imref]

Another dominant start tonight if you aren't following the F-Nats thread.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

He'll be innings-limited again next year. Got in 85 innings in 20 starts, so figure the target will be around 110 innings. Turns 21 in April.

He was overpowering at Low A. Q for those who track him: was he just doing it with the fastball and slider, or did he use the splitter/ changeup or a 3rd pitch? Control looks good, but I'd expect the K% - BB% of 31 ( ) to come down once he faces more talented hitters. Scary, but is Spencer Strider a style comp (not saying he's Spencer Strider, but pitch mix, velocity, control...)? He's much bigger than Strider, so there's probably better comps.

[Slateman]

Goal is to get him and Susana into Double A next year.

[imref]

Up to 79th on the mlb pipeline.

[nobleisthyname]

Age: 20
Team rank: 2
Current level: A

Season recap

W-L

|

IP

|

GS

|

ERA

|

FIP

|

SO

|

BB

|

K%

|

BB%

|

WHIP

5-3

|

85.0

|

20

|

2.33

|

1.87

|

129

|

27

|

39.2%

|

8.2%

|

0.91

[JCA-CrystalCity]

article on each team's prospect whose stock most improved in 2024 picks Sykora for the Nats:

Nationals: Travis Sykora, RHP (No. 2/MLB No. 79)
There was a lot to like about Sykora coming out of the Draft, starting with the third-rounder's size at 6-foot-6. But the Texas native proved to be more than just projection in his first full season as he led the Minors (min. 80 IP) with a 39.2 percent strikeout rate for Single-A Fredericksburg. Sykora's 95-98 mph fastball can be a plus-plus pitch while his splitter and slider add to the swing-and-miss. The combination of results and stuff pushed him comfortably into the Top 100.

https://www.mlb.com/news/each-team-s-prospect-whose-stock-improved-most-2024?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
There's also some nice gifs of Ks in the article.

[Slateman]

Future Sandy Alcantara

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I wonder how much of that swing and miss and K rate continues this year at higher levels.

[imref]

Will be interesting to see how he does at A+ and hopefully AA this year.

[Natsinpwc]

Can’t be any good as we know Rizzo can’t draft pitchers.

[imref]

Per Rizzo, Sykora has a hip issue and won't pitch in games until May.

[Slateman]

Season. Career.

[imref]

FWIW, first game last year was 5/1

[imref]

Rizzo says Sykora had "minor labrum surgery" on his hip in the offseason.

[Slateman]

Yea, he's done

[rileyn]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

[IanRubbish]

FWIW, first game last year was 5/1

He only threw 85 innings last year, probably doesn't do more than that this year.  He also never exceeded 81 pitches per start.  This has become a league wide trend with pitching prospects.  Noah Schultz, a top White Sox prospect threw fewer than 4 innings per start.  Getting these guys to 90-100 pitch starts when they're ready for MLB will take some work.

[rbw5t]

Yea, he's done

Hip definitely makes me nervous (I think about Koda Glover), but maybe he's too young to assume the worst?  And his performance didn't seem like it was affecting him negatively, so maybe it really was something minor?  Unless it was a result of offseason conditioning injury, and wasn't something he was dealing with last season?  I'll say I'm worried, but for now am cautiously optimistic that it isn't as bad as it seems?  Does anyone have any additional detail on how scary this might be?

[Slateman]

If he's having hip issues at 20, he's done.

[IanRubbish]

Hip definitely makes me nervous (I think about Koda Glover), but maybe he's too young to assume the worst?  And his performance didn't seem like it was affecting him negatively, so maybe it really was something minor?  Unless it was a result of offseason conditioning injury, and wasn't something he was dealing with last season?  I'll say I'm worried, but for now am cautiously optimistic that it isn't as bad as it seems?  Does anyone have any additional detail on how scary this might be?

As usual, the team isn't giving out a lot of info, just saying it's "minor", so we have no way of knowing.  That said, most of the pitching injuries this org has had have been downplayed at first.  Last spring the Post did a puff piece on Cade Cavalli saying he was on track to be back in MLB by last May.

[nobleisthyname]

#84 on Longenhagen's top-100 prospects list on Fangraphs. Says the hip surgery won't change his grade until he sees it actually affect him on the field.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2025-top-100-prospects/

TL;DR summary:

Sykora had a dominant first pro season thanks to his plus velocity, splitter, and advanced control.

Full summary:

As I noted on last year’s Nationals list, you can’t help but malaprop Sykora into “Sequoia,” because at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, Travis is the size of a tree. He overpowered high school hitters with a downhill, upper-90s fastball and promising split changeup as an amateur, and the Nationals gave him $2.6 million in the third round of the 2023 draft. Sykora made 20 excellent Low-A starts during his pro debut in 2024. In 85 innings, he posted a 2.33 ERA, a 1.87 FIP, a 39.2% strikeout rate (yow), and a 8.2% walk rate.

Sykora has a low-three-quarters arm slot, but his front side stays tall throughout his delivery. It’s a funky operation that gives him the option of running a two-seamer down toward his arm-side or elevating his fastball at the belt. Sykora did much more of the latter in 2024 while he held mid-90s velo all year. Even as a high schooler, his fastball command was fairly advanced for a pitcher his size and age, but a 8% walk rate in a 6-foot-6 guy’s debut season is even better than one could have hoped for. Sykora’s slider, which doesn’t spin very much but is aided by its natural downhill trajectory, gives him the means to attack east and west off his fastball, while his splitter combines with the elevated version of Sykora’s heater to attack north and south. The direction of the splitter’s movement has been all over the place since Sykora was in high school. At times it can look like a slider, and something about its inconsistency plays mind games with hitters. Both of his secondary pitches generated miss rates north of 50% last year. Just before the Top 100 was published, Mike Rizzo told reporters that Sykora will be out until close to the middle of the 2025 season; he had a hip procedure during the offseason and will start the year in extended spring training. It didn’t impact his grade here, and so long as Sykora’s stuff looks the same when he returns, he’ll still have mid-rotation projection.

[imref]

[imref]

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/after-hip-surgery-sykora-could-be-even-more-electric

[Natsinpwc]

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/after-hip-surgery-sykora-could-be-even-more-electric

Well that's one way to spin it. 

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

Well that's one way to spin it. 

My grandmother became quite the fire baller after her hip surgery…