HOUSTON -- Dylan Crews, James Wood and Travis Sykora are key members of the Nationals future on both the Major and Minor League level.
RHP Travis Sykora: To undergo Tommy John surgery
Sykora, ranked as the Nationals' No. 1 prospect and MLB’s No. 24 prospect, was diagnosed with a torn right UCL, the team announced on Monday. The electric 21-year-old will undergo UCL reconstruction in two weeks.
Sykora had been shut down from throwing since his last start with Double-A Harrisburg on July 5. When the discomfort did not go away, he had an MRI, which revealed the UCL tear.
“He’s a good pitcher,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo. “He’s a guy that’s going to be, in the future when he recovers, he’s going to be one of the main starters on the Nationals. So it’s always sad to hear that someone’s going to get Tommy John. We just wish and hope for a big recovery.”
Sykora began this season recovering from a minor offseason labrum procedure in his hip. He went 3-1 with a 1.79 ERA, 0.77 WHIP and 15.7 K/9 in 12 starts across four levels.
A 2023 third-round Draft pick out of Round Rock High School (Texas), Sykora was named the 2024 Carolina League Pitcher of the Year.
OF James Wood: A rare day off to reset
Wood truly is an “everyday player” -- he already has played in 104 games this season. Cairo gave Wood, 22, the series opener against the Astros off on Monday as an opportunity to reset.
Following a first half of the season in which Wood posted a .915 OPS, earned his first All-Star selection and made his Home Run Derby debut, Wood is batting .114 with 18 strikeouts in his first nine games out of the All-Star Break. Wood, who has 24 home runs on the season, has not gone yard since July 9.
“Every player that didn’t go to the All-Star Game had four days off. He only got maybe one, one and a half,” Cairo said. “… I just want to give him a little break, more mentally. I told him to come on the last bus so that he can relax, chill out and just have a chill day.”
Wood was available to pinch-hit if needed, but Cairo encouraged him not to even pick up a bat to hit in the cage until the fourth or fifth inning.
“He’s been playing almost every day, and he’s been playing left field a lot,” Cairo said. “He’s one of our best hitters on the team, and you want to keep him every time [out] there. You get selfish a little bit, too, because you want to have him in the second spot. But at the same time, you’ve got to trust the rest of the team. I want to give him a break so that he can just take one step back, relax and be ready to perform tomorrow.”
OF Dylan Crews: to begin rehab assignment with Triple-A Rochester
After missing 57 games since May 21 because of a left oblique strain, Crews will begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday with Triple-A Rochester. He had appeared in 45 games this season before he was shut down from game action.
“I have patience, for sure, but this is all new to me at the same time,” Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 Draft, said on Sunday while with the team in Minnesota. “They’ll tell you that I’ve been really itching -- and itching and itching -- to get back and start playing. But sometimes people’s own enemy is themselves. So they’ve done a great job of holding me back and telling me, ‘It’s OK, take this and be patient with it and you’ll come back stronger than you were before.’ So I give a lot of thanks and credit to them for that.”
Crews, 23, is going to approach his rehab assignment “almost like a Spring Training.” He will look to get his timing down at the plate, while the team will continue to carefully monitor his health and recovery.
“We had a few talks because I knew he was getting anxious,” Cairo said. “But it’s normal because I know he was feeling good, his recovery was good. At the same time, I explained to him, ‘I want you to play this season. If you go over there too early and get a setback, you’re going to start the season in Spring Training.’ I told him, ‘I want to see you this year play on the team.’ He understands. It’s a protocol, it’s a process that we’ve got to go through.”