Nationals’ No. 1 Prospect Could Be Next To Make a Jump in Top 100 Rankings
In this story:
The MLB recently released their updated top 100 prospects. There was a lot of movement with players graduating from prospect status, and others making their way into the top prospects.
The Washington Nationals have three players in the top 100. The most notable is their No. 1 prospect, Travis Sykora.
Sykora is not only the No. 1 prospect in the Nationals' organization, but he is also the No. 62 prospect in the entire MLB.
Sam Dykstra of MLB.com thinks Sykora could be the next player to make a big jump in the prospect rankings.
Travis Sykora's Start to 2025
Sykora was drafted out of Round Rock High School in Texas in 2023. He made his professional debut in 2024. That season, the right-hander threw 85.0 innings, struck out 129 batters and opponents hit just .168 off him.
It was an excellent first pro season for the top prospect, but the righty underwent hip surgery in the offseason.
Despite the surgery, Sykora is off to a great start in 2025.
The 21-year-old is pitching for the FCL Nationals on a rehab assignment. In two starts, he has thrown 5.0 innings, allowed just one hit and one earned run. The most impressive stat is his 14 strikeouts in 15 outs recorded.
He is not going to spend a lot more time in the Florida Complex League with those numbers. In fact, the Fredricksburg Nationals, the organization's Single-A affiliate, recently held a bobblehead day for the top prospect. That could indicate the former third-round pick is headed back to the place where he spent his first pro season.
The first bobblehead of the season is coming up next Sunday and it's none other than Travis Sykora! 🤩 🔥
— Fredericksburg Nationals (@FXBGNats) May 4, 2025
The first 1,000 fans will head home with one, courtesy of Virginia Landscape Management.
Get your tickets now: https://t.co/oJwcOopYKm pic.twitter.com/uhmGijq4AY
The Future for Sykora
If Sykora does make a start or two for the Single-A affiliated team, he is not going to spend too much time there.
He dominated in Fredericksburg in 2024, and with the way he has began 2025, the righty should not have any problems at that level this year.
With that in mind, Sykora should make the jump to High-A soon. If he continues to perform the way he has shown in the past, it would not be surprising to see him get called up to Double-A at some point.
As mentioned, Sykora is No. 62 in MLB Pipeline's top 100 prospect rankings, but he could make a jump soon. Dykstra mentions that it was the hip surgery that made his ranking so low.
By being at full health, Sykora is going to make significant leaps in the rankings.
Recommended Articles
Cameron Zunkel is a sports writer from the western suburbs of Chicago. He played Division-II baseball at the University of Illinois at Springfield where he earned a masters degree in Communication. Cameron also played independent league baseball for the Joliet Slammers and Schaumburg Boomers of the Frontier League. He has been in journalism since 2022 and has a passion for baseball specifically, but he enjoys all sports. His other work includes writing sports betting articles for ClutchPoints. In his free time, you can catch Cam at the gym, on the golf course, or coaching the youth in the beautiful sport of baseball.