Friday’s News & Notes
| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | Lost, 6-4 | vs. Jacksonville, 6:45pm | Solesky (2-5, 4.75) vs. Piña (4-3, 3.51) |
| Harrisburg | Won, 4-3 (10 inn.) |
@ Chesapeake, 7:05pm | Conley (1-2, 2.73) vs. German (2-2, 4.50) |
| Wilmington | Won, 6-5 | @ Hub City, 6:35pm | Lara (0-0, 0.00) vs. Davalillo (4-0, 1.09) |
| Fredericksburg | Won, 1-0 | @ Fayetteville, 7:05pm | Da. Garcia (2-2, 3.56) vs. David (2-3, 3.59) |
| FCL Nationals | Won, 13-7 | OFF DAY | |
| DSL Nationals | Won, 6-1 | vs. DSL Angels, 11am |
Jacksonville 6 Rochester 4
• Sampson (L, 1-2) 5+ IP, 5H, 5R, 4ER, 1BB, 3K
• Powell 2IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 2K, 1-1 IR-S
• Lile 1-3, R, BB, HR, RBI, E
• House 1-4, R, HR, 2RBI, 3K
A 4-1 Rochester lead disappeared in the 6th as Jacksonville put up four to take the lead and got an inusrance run in the 8th to seal the deal, 6-4. Adrian Sampson was charged with the loss on five runs (four earned) let in on five hits and a walk over five-plus innings. It was the Red Wings’ ninth straight loss. All four Rochester runs came via the longball, with Daylen Lile and Nick Schnell hitting solo shots and Brady House driving in two with his organization-leading 13th homer.
Harrisburg 4 Chesapeake 3
• Luckham 5⅔ IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, HR
• Santos (W, 4-2) 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 1K
• Cuevas (SV, 8) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Stehly 2-3, R, HR(5), 2RBI
• Made 1-2, BB, RBI, CS
A picket fence in the middle innings gave the Senators a 3-1 lead until a two-run HR tied it at 3-3. After faltering in the 6th, the Harrisburg bullpen locked it down while the offense scratched out a run in the 10th for a 4-3 win. Staff ace Kyle Luckham went past the five-inning mark for the 11th time in 13 starts and came away with his seventh no-decision with two runs allowed on four hits (one HR) and two walks over five and 2/3rds. Junior Santos picked up the win with a goose egg in the 9th and Michael Cuevas dispatched the BaySox in order in the 10th for his 8th save. Murphy Stehly singled and homered while Kevin Made reached twice with a single and a walk as the Sens squeezed four runs out of five hits and three walks.
Wilmington 6 Hub City 5
• Sykora (W, 2-0) 5IP, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 10K
• Vasquez (SV, 3) ⅔ IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K, 3-2 IR-S
• Dugas 2-4, R
• Petersen 1-3, 2R, HR, RBI, 2BB
• White 1-3, R, BB, 2K
Wilmington broke open a 0-0 game with five runs in the 6th and got a HR in the 9th that proved to be the difference in a 6-5 win over Hub City. Travis Sykora bounced back from a mortal start to grill the Spartanburgers for five scoreless innings with two hits, no walks, and a season-high 10 strikeouts. The Blue Rocks bullpen did all they could to blow it—giving up runs in each of the final four frames, including two in the 9th—but Samuel Vasquez came away with two outs to earn the save. Gavin Dugas singled twice and scored once while Sam Peterson walked twice and homered in the 9th to pace the Wilmington offense.
Fredericksburg 1 Fayetteville 0
• B. Romero 4⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, 3BB, 2K
• Minckler 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Baldo (SV, 4) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Rivero 2-3
• Peoples 2-4, R, 2B, HR, RBI
Four Fredericksburg pitchers combined to shut out Fayetteville, 1-0 on four hits. Nick “Power to the” Peoples’s solo HR with two out in the 9th was the difference. It was the fourth extra-base hit and sixth hit total as the FredNats were 0-for-6 in RISP chances and left on five. Ryan Minckler picked up the win with his fifth no-walk appearance (out of 18) while Merrick Baldo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the save. Brayan Romero made his first Low-A start of the season after rehabbing in the FCL and got 14 outs on 82 pitches, issuing three walks, striking out two, and allowing two hits. Roster moves: RHP Juan Abreu shifted from the 7-Day to 60-day I.L.
FCL Nationals 13 FCL Cardinals 7
• Sullivan 1⅓ IP, 2H, 1R, 1ER, 3BB, 4K
• Portorreal 3⅔ IP, 10H, 6R, 6ER, 1BB, 2K, 2HR
• C. Martina (W, 2-1) 1IP, 1H, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 0K
• Rojas 4-6, 4RBI
• D. Tejeda 3-5, 3R, 4RBI, 2SB, SAC
• Acevedo 2-3, 3R, BB, RBI
The F-Nats rallied for five in the 6th to the game at seven and then put up three-spots in both 8th and 9th to down the F-Cards, 13-7. Liam Sullivan made his second appearance and was dinged for a run on two hits and three walks before giving way to the displaced starter Leuris Portorreal. The 19-y.o. Dominican was strafed for six runs on 10 hits and a walk over three and 2/3rds. The FCL Nationals offense walked nine times and collected 11 singles, four by Eyeksson Rojas, three by Dashyll Tejeda, and two by Andy Acevedo.
DSL Nationals 6 DSL Tigers1 1
• Robles (W, 1-1) 5IP, 0H, R, 3BB, 5K
• Salas 2IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 0BB, 3K, HR, HBP
• German 1-3, R, HR, RBI, HBP
• Garces 1-3, R, 2B, 2RBI
The DSL Nationals flirted with a no-hitter for five innings before giving up a HR in the bottom of the 6th. It would be the only D-Tigers1 run in a 6-1 win by the D-Nats. Jean Robles walked three but did not allow a hit in his five innings pitched to earn the win. Jhondel Salas gave up the solo HR to lose the no-no but finished the game. Marconi German homered, Juan Obispo tripled, Jonierbis Garces and Junior Castillo doubled, and Daniel Hernandez singled to round out the DSL Nationals hit column.
Sykora looked like a man among boys, especially early on. I will say his stated desire to hit 100 may cause him to waste a few pitches as he missed really high a few times with an ahead in the count fastball. good slider and split, he used all his pitches and they were all very good.
lots of positives from yesterday’ action, up and down the system.
Put a fork in Parker hes done
Sykora is without a doubt in my mind the top prospect in our system. He’s a rare pitching prospect who has both the pedigree, “stuff” and stats that I think he’s put himself into consideration for the top pitching prospect in baseball. When we get some of these mid season updates, I’ll be annoyed if Sykora hasn’t risen considerably.
In other news, some of my favorite dark horse prospects had excellent games. Sam Petersen keeps raking. Doesn’t matter what level, he’ll hit. .387 in the FCL, .333 in A ball, and now .385 in A+. I really think he’s going to surprise people.
Dashyll Tejeda also…. keeps raking. Maybe with a bit less power, but with blistering speed. Tejeda is following up his excellent 2024 where he batted .304 with a great .432 OBP with an AVG of .319 and .458 in the FCL. I’d be curious to hear how his CF defense profiles, as if it’s even average, we could have another Victor Robles on our hands.
Someone tell Murphy Stehly that he’s not supposed to get BETTER when getting a procedural roster move “promotion”. Stehly batted .182/.386/.394, then reassigned to Harrisburg, where’s he now doing his best impression of Ted Williams, batting .373/.456/.657 in an ever increasingly large sample of 20 games. Stehly turns 27 later this year, and is a 3B, but has been playing a good amount of 1B and 2B recently, all 3 positions which are pretty weakly resourced in DC at the moment. Is there a chance Stehly gets a shot before the season is over?
Stehly also spent a season in RF for a top college program, so he seemingly has solid utility skills. His numbers at Texas caught my eye when he was drafted as one to watch, but it has taken him a while to ignite. His .435 BABIP and 220 wRC+ at AA are unsustainable, but perhaps he really has found something.
If Sykora pitches this well in AA–a BIG “if” given that he’s pitching so well–he will be in the running for the top prospect in baseball in offseason lists. We’ll see some articles suggesting he break camp with the MLB club in ’26. If he falls back to earth just a bit–say a 3.00 FIP in ~60 innings in AA, he’ll still end up a top-20 prospect.
The last starter I can remember who teared up the minors this way was Andrew Painter, and Sykora’s numbers are quite a bit better (though Sykora is older than Painter was). The next time Sykora finishes a season with a FIP above 2.00 will be the first time. Incredible!
I just looked at the MILB leaderboard. Among SPs with at least 20 IP, Sykora leads the minors in FIP at 0.58 (lololol) out of 744 arms. The next best is player is nearly 3 times higher at 1.45.
Sykora’s ERA is 0.98 that’s 3rd in the minors behind two way-above-age-appropriate-for-the-their-level arms.
Skyora’s xFIP is 1.14, which is way better than the next best player at 1.58.
Sykora’s K/9 is 17.07. That best in the minors. Next best is 15.85.
Sykora’s BB/9 is 1.55, that’s 33rd best in the minors (of 744), which means his K/BB is an absurd 11.00, which is 2nd in the minors.
His HR/9 is 0.00, which is obviously also best in the minors (tied with a bunch of other guys).
His K% is 54.5%. Best in the minors, and 25% better than the next best (Trey Yesavage at 43.4%).
BB% 5.0%. 49th over all. K-BB% is 49.5%, some 50% better than the next best (32.6%).
Average against 0.96, which is 2nd best in the minors, which is interestingly against a not-so-unreasonable .231 BABIP.
Sykora’s swinging strike% (take this with a grain of salt as I heard lower level batted ball data can be incorrect) is 28.9%, which is – you guessed it – best in the minors.
According to basically every single rate stat, Sykora is comfortably the best pitcher in the minors. The only thing going against him at this point is that he lost a month of play to injury, and has been pitch limited to date. But great to see he’s reached up to 79 pitches now. The reins are very slowly but surely getting loosened.
Of all of this insane numbers, the K-BB% is the one that stands out most to me. 2021 Jacob deGrom, who earned 5 fWAR in just 92 MLB innings and pitched to a 1.24 FIP, had a K-BB% of 41.7%. I think that version of deGrom is the best starting pitcher any of us will likely ever see, and Sykora is doing *better* than that (albeit against A-ball hitters, but still).
I have a Pedro Martinez on line 1, something about his 1999 and 2000 seasons.
I couldn’t work in a reference to it, but methinks Sykora’s MiLB player page proves his hip mobility is back to what it was.
Fair point–I think Pedro’s ’99 is comparable to deGrom’s ’21 on a rate basis, but deGrom’s 21 is ever-so-slightly better. Pedro ’99 gets the nod overall because of the massive lead in innings.
Sykora just continues to dominate. I’m not sure I’ve seen a pitcher in the minors week in and out be this unhittable. He is basically on no hit/perfect game watch every week. I’m kinda waiting for him to have that bad day and it will eventually come, but man is he dominant.
I know Giolito was heralded in this system but I don’t remember it being quite like this on his way up. Sykora just feels underrated because gurus weren’t all in on him out of hs and he wasn’t a first rounder. If he was, he’d already be a top 25 prospect based on what he has already done even with it being at lower levels.
To think Sykora wasn’t fully healthy last season, his stuff backed up from high school and he still dominated Low-A. He was so good that we all assumed that was he has no issue. But that was with the fastball 92-97. He is now 94-100. He said his velocity would come back when healthy. He wasn’t lying. He was already a stand out prospect with less, with more and his other pitches he could truly be elite.
Sykora threw 79 pitches last night. His previous high this season was 64. So, the Nats are stretch him out.
Countless ways to praise Sykora, but his command impresses me most for an inexperienced power pitcher. Last night 79 pitchers and 55 strikes. That is crazy good.
Oh yeah, he’s only pitched a total of 28 professional games in his career. So, he has the stuff and command with little experience. Amazing. Please please please stay healthy.
Sykora chat heavy on Friday the 13 th
Sullivan working his way back . Dawg !!