Simply put, the main reason 22 year old Noah Syndergaard was not promoted to the big leagues last year was because he wasn’t ready.
That conclusion could have easily been supported statistically. He went 9-7 with a pedestrian 4.60 ERA in 133 innings for Triple-A Las Vegas. While he allowed only 43 walks and 11 home runs last year, he allowed 154 hits which resulted in an unsightly 1.48 WHIP for the promising right-hander.
But the Mets decision may have gone beyond Syndergaard’s statistics. People all throughout the organization attributed Syndergaard’s age as a contributing factor to his struggles which in turn led to an inconsistent focus and approach on the mound.
Syndergaard has acknowledged the issues he’s had, doing so once again after being optioned to the the minor leagues on Friday.
“I won’t fall under the pressure that happened last year,” Syndergaard said, according to the New York Post. “Last year, I was pressing the panic button a little bit because I wanted to get to the big leagues as fast as possible. I’m slated to go to Vegas to continue to work on things to get better and hopefully push Sandy to make that phone call.”
While he had monumental success with Single-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton in 2013, he was more than three years younger than the average player in the Florida State League that year, and almost five years younger than the average player in the Eastern League.
Last year, Syndergaard was six years younger than the average player in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
Some of those struggles carried into Spring Training this year, although he showed clear signs he could be evolving into the pitcher he needs to be to get to Flushing. He had a 4.91 ERA in 7 1/3 innings of relief, and in those innings Syndergaard would often display the one-dimensional approach which led to his problems in 2014. He would get fastball happy, and revert to being a thrower rather than a strategic pitcher, something which led to his tremendous success in 2013. But then there were times he showed how dynamic and dominant he could be, which the Mets clearly want to see more of in Las Vegas.
“He just needs to go down and pitch the way he’s capable of pitching, and focus on the job at hand, which his job in Las Vegas and not worry about what openings or opportunities may arise in New York,” Sandy Alderson explained to reporters on Friday. “When they do, assuming he’s focused on his own performance in Vegas, he’ll get an opportunity.”
Interestingly enough, Alderson also said Syndergaard may not be the first call in the event of a need in the rotation. But, that should only add to the challenge and motivation for Syndergaard as he pursues his promotion. Perhaps that’s what Alderson’s message was designed to do.
Every pitcher is different, regardless of the talent and promise. Some come quicker, some take a little more time to develop. In Syndergaard’s case, he’s going to get here, and everyone believes he is going to be a top-shelf Major League starting pitcher. As such. the Mets have every reason to remain patient while continuing to challenge Syndergaard.
They know his ceiling is too high to consider the alternative.
Just Mets 