Before they were leading the Washington Nationals back to the promised land in the big leagues, guys like Dylan Crews, James Wood, and others were once grinding through the team's minor league system waiting to get their opportunity in the show. As the 2024 season nears a close, I will continue seeking to provide daily Minor League updates by taking a page out of hockey's playbook, and award the 3 Stars of the Night for Nats minor leaguers that aren't with the big league club. This is an attempt to shine a spotlight on 3 future Nats who happen to have big time performances the night before, in hopes to give them a bit of limelight and exposure that they wouldn't normally get to experience.
In case you are unfamiliar with hockey's concept of the 3 Stars of the Game, according to Wikipedia: "The three stars in ice hockey are the three best players in a game, with the "first star" considered the best of the three players, akin to the player of the match in other sports. Media representatives of the home team choose the three stars, who are usually the top point scorers or outstanding goaltenders from either team."
The big news from Thursday's MiLB games is that the Low-A Fredericksburg Nationals are headed to the Carolina League Championship! They completed a 2-game sweep over the Carolina Mudcats to earn their entry into the final series, where they will await the winner of the Kannappolis Cannon Ballers and Charleston RiverDogs. Man, I love Minor League team names. Overall, the organization went 1-2, with the AAA Rochester Red Wings and AA Harrisburg Senators both suffering defeats.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Third Star of the Night: OF Elijah Green - WSH #21 Prospect - Low-A Fredericksburg
Since being selected with the 5th overall pick back in the 2022 Draft, Elijah Green has endured some hardships at the plate. His potential is still off-the-charts, and if he can just improve his bat-to-ball skills, he will be an absolute force for this organization for years to come, given how loud his other tools are. I will do a prospect profile on him at some point, but on Thursday, in his first taste of a postseason series, he hit a dramatic game-tying solo homer in the 7th to knot the game at 2-2. He finished the game 1/3 with 2 strikeouts and a stolen base that later led to the go-ahead run as well, giving fans a great example of the Elijah Green experience. His dramatic homer and blazing speed earns him Thursday's Third Star of the Night.
ELIJAH. GREEN. BOMB. 💣
— Fredericksburg Nationals (@FXBGNats) September 13, 2024
This no-doubter ties the game at 2 in the 7th!#WeAreFXBG pic.twitter.com/W7rE5K7KZv
⭐️⭐️ Second Star of the Night: 3B Brady House - WSH #2 Prospect, MLB #65 - AAA Rochester
The Second Star of the Night from Thursday is 3B Brady House, the 11th overall pick of the Nats back in 2021, and the organization's #2 prospect. He finished Thursday's game as one of the lone bright spots in an uninspiring 6-2 loss, going 3/4 with a trio of singles and an RBI. House is widely expected to be the organization's third baseman of the future, and should arrive some time next season, with an ETA of next summer being my estimation. Still just 21-years-old and developing his power that has allowed him to hit 19 homers this season between AA Harrisburg and AAA Rochester, House has some work to do before proving he's ready for the show, but he's progressing very nicely.
⭐️ First Star of the Night: SP Travis Sykora - WSH #3 Prospect, MLB #92 - Low-A Fredericksburg
Thursday's First Star of the Night is an absolute no-brainer, and another FredNat who absolutely dominated in his first taste of professional postseason baseball, 20-year-old righty Travis Sykora. He threw 5.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing just 1 hit, 1 walk, and striking out 9. The 6'6" starter has absolutely dominated Low-A ball this season, with a regular season stat line including a 5-3 record, 2.33 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and a whopping 129 strikeouts in 85.0 innings. Outside of fellow Washington pitching prospect Jarlin Susana, Sykora has arguably seen his stock rise the most out of any pitching prospect in all of baseball this season, and his dominant start on Thursday helped set the tone for the Championship-bound FredNats.
Travis Sykora dominated again tonight in Fredericksburg's postseason win over Carolina.
— Eric Cross (@EricCross04) September 13, 2024
5 IP, H, 0 ER, BB, 9 K
Sykora could be the #1 pitching prospect in baseball by the end of next season.#NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/skSAHTyzP7
Which of these 3 players are you most excited to see in Washington one day? Do you think I missed someone more deserving? As always please let me know your thoughts on X,@DCBerk.
All stats in this article were provided by MiLB.com and MLB.com.