Travis

Sykora

It’s a devastating blow for one of the most electrifying pitching prospects in baseball. The flame-throwing 21-year-old righty figured to ascend to the big leagues at some point during the 2026 campaign after reaching Double-A Harrisburg a couple months ago. He was shut down earlier this month with triceps soreness and is now going to be sidelined until the late stages of next season after an MRI revealed a torn UCL.

Sykora will not pitch in next week’s All-Star Futures Game, which is a legitimate bummer for fantasy managers, and is going to be shut down until late July or early August. The positive news here is that it looks like the hard-throwing 21-year-old top pitching prospect will return before the season wraps up.

A source told the Washington Post’s Mark Zuckerman that the Nationals don’t believe it’s a major injury. Still, the team will surely be careful here. Sykora, one of the Nationals’ top prospects, already missed the first month of the year with a hip injury. He has a 1.79 ERA and a 79/17 K/BB over 45 1/3 innings between four levels.

Sykora is the 62nd overall prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, but he should be flying up rankings with how well he’s pitched this year. He has a 1.21 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and 47/8 K/BB ratio in 29 2/3 innings in High-A this year. He’ll likely end the season in Double-A, which could give him a good chance to make his MLB debut at some point in 2026.

The hard-throwing 20-year-old righty was a third-round selection by the Nationals from the 2023 draft class and has blossomed into one of the top pitching prospects in the game. He registered a 2.33 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and a stellar 129/27 K/BB ratio over 85 innings at Single-A Fredericksburg. The Nationals are going to take every possible precaution here so don’t expect to see him jump up to the Double-A level until the end of the season.

Sykora continues to dominate in the lower minors after being selected in the third round of last year’s MLB Draft. The hard-throwing 20-year-old righty has notched at least eight strikeouts in three consecutive starts and has allowed just five baserunners over 15 innings during that span. He’ll undoubtedly close out the year at High-A Wilmington and could reach the upper minors at some point early next season. He’s rapidly evolving into an upper-echelon fantasy pitching prospect and should be rostered in all dynasty formats.

Sykora has been absolutely electric this season in his professional debut after being taken in the third round of the 2023 MLB Draft as a prep pitcher from Texas, who received a staggering $2.6 million vastly over-slot deal from the Nationals. The hard-throwing 20-year-old righty lowered his full-season totals on Friday to a sparkling 2.67 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 86/21 K/BB ratio across 57 1/3 innings. He was on the map already for dynasty managers, but his performance over the last few months should have him rocketing up the way-too-early 2025 dynasty rankings.

Universally-regarded as one of the top prep arms in the entire draft class, the Nationals were willing to hand Sykora a staggering $2.6 million signing bonus, which is nearly $1.6 million above slot value for the 71st overall selection. The 19-year-old righty from Texas possesses a triple-digit fastball and will be one of the more interesting arms to monitor over the next few years.