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Washington Nationals Star Pitching Prospect Tosses Jaw-Dropping Outing

Originally posted on Washington Nationals on SI
By Michael Brauner | Last updated Jun 14, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The Washington Nationals are one of the youngest teams in baseball already at the Major League level, but that does not mean their farm system is depleted by any means.

Quite the contrary, in fact. Washington has some elite talent on their way to reaching the big leagues, but one of them is starting to stand out above all the rest.

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Current top prospect in the organization and No. 58 in baseball Travis Sykora was drafted out of high school in the third round of the MLB draft in 2023. But even though he's young, he is absolutely carving up his competition right now at the High-A level.

On Thursday night, Sykora threw what was just his fourth High-A outing at Wilmington. In five innings, he was scoreless once again and struck out 10 hitters all while allowing just two hits, both of them singles.

Travis Sykora was utterly dominant in his 4th High-A @WilmBlueRocks outing, lowering his ERA to 1.00

The @Nationals' top-ranked prospect tied his career high with 10 strikeouts, scattering two singles over five scoreless frames. pic.twitter.com/VGKsD7d6bP
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 13, 2025

In those four starts, Sykora now has an ERA of 1.00 and WHIP of 0.50, striking out 32 hitters in just 18 innings and walking only two.

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On the season as a whole which included two starts each in Single-A and rookie ball, his ERA is down to a 0.93 along with a 0.483 WHIP, racking up a laughable figure of 55 strikeouts and five walks in 29 innings.

It's becoming apparent that Sykora is well ahead of his competition at the High-A level. He's not going to make the climb to the big leagues anytime in the immediate future, but it would be a shock to not see him promoted to Double-A sometime over the next couple months.

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Not projected to arrive to Major League Baseball until 2027, the freshly turned 21-year-old looks like he might be ahead of schedule. If he can keep dominating in Wilmington, it won't be long before he gets a shot in Harrisburg, and perhaps even Rochester.

At this current rate, it will not be a surprise to see Sykora push to make his MLB debut sometime next season.

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This article first appeared on Washington Nationals on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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