Nationals announced to reporters today that pitching prospect Travis Sykora will require Tommy John surgery. He will miss the remainder of this season and probably all of 2026 as well. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com was among those to relay the news.
It’s a brutal development for both Sykora and the Nats. The young righty was a third-round pick in the 2023 draft. Since then, he has raised his prospect stock with some strong results in the minors. Last year, he tossed 85 innings over 20 Single-A starts as a 20-year-old. He had a 2.33 earned run average, 8.2% walk rate and massive 39.2% strikeout rate. This year, he made another 12 starts across multiple levels, getting as high as Double-A. He had thrown 45 1/3 innings with a 1.79 ERA. His 10.1% walk rate was a bit high but he pushed his strikeout rate even higher to 46.7%.
Those numbers have pushed him up prospect boards. Baseball America currently ranks him the #36 prospect in the league, FanGraphs #28 and MLB Pipeline #24. Since he had already climbed to Double-A by the end of June, it was possible to imagine him being a key part of Washington’s roster next year. That won’t happen now. He could perhaps be a factor by 2027, but that will come with concerns about his workload and effectiveness after the long surgery layoff. He’ll be eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December of 2026, so the Nats will have to add him to the 40-man before that to protect him.
The Nats haven’t had a winning season since their 2019 championship campaign. They’ve largely been mired in a rebuild since then. It has been hoped in recent years for them to turn a corner but they haven’t been able to do that. This year’s 43-62 record is the worst in the National League, apart from the lowly Rockies. The struggles became magnified enough that both president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez got fired recently.
The club’s rotation outlook already had plenty of question marks before this. DJ Herz and Trevor Williams required Tommy John surgery this year. Josiah Gray is still recovering from last year’s Tommy John. Michael Soroka is an impending free agent and should be traded this week. MacKenzie Gore has established himself as an ace but he’s only under club control through 2027. Mitchell Parker, Jake Irvin and Brad Lord are back-end types. Cade Cavalli is posting mixed results in the minors.
Getting guys like Sykora and Jarlin Susana up to the big leagues would have been a huge help but now Sykora will be out for over a year. Susana missed a few months due to a sprain of his UCL, though he recently returned to the mound.
Put it all together and it’s less than ideal for the Nats. They clearly recognize changes are required, given the aforementioned firings. In the most recent offseason, they decided not to heavily invest in the team because they decided that they weren’t ready to take the next step. Time will tell if they stay in that lane or want to get more aggressive. Perhaps this news will impact that decision.
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