Just Mets

It hasn’t been easy for Noah Syndergaard since he arrived at Triple-A Las Vegas last year. His start to the 2015 hasn’t been an exception to that, either.

He has battled some minor forearm problems which pushed him back in the starting rotation early in the year. He then battled food poisoning which scratched him from his original start this past Saturday.

In between, he’s battled the same problems which plagued him last year: quality strikes, pitch selection, and efficiency.

But on Monday at Cashman Field, Syndergaard took a much needed step forward on his road to the big leagues. He fired a two-hit, complete game shutout against the Albuquerque Isotopes in the opening game of a doubleheader sweep for the Las Vegas 51s.

Syndergaard threw 83 pitches, recorded nine strikeouts and allowed no walks. He retired 17 straight batters from the end of the first inning until he had one out in the seventh inning.

Syndergaard did exactly what he needed to do on Monday.

In his first start in Sacramento, it looked as though he struggled with the feel for his secondary pitches, which isn’t uncommon in the Pacific Coast League. The problem was – as has been the case since he got to Las Vegas – was he stopped throwing his secondary pitches and became a one-pitch pitcher. In his next start against Fresno, he was just all over the place and just didn’t have it.

But on Monday, he seemed to put all of these pieces together, consistently using his deadly curveball to off-set his blazing fastball and was able to throw everything for strikes. In the end, he put together a dominant outing, something which I think he really needed to do given his struggles out there.

It’s really easy to use the Pacific Coast League as an excuse for Syndergaard, especially since throughout his problems he’s generally been able to throw strikes and limit the long ball. But, the quality of those strikes generally haven’t been good, and because he has often become a one-pitch pitcher, he’s been very predictable and been hit hard as a result.

It’s also worth mentioning Steven Matz has not deviated from his approach to pitching because of the adverse conditions out there, and he’s been very successful over his first few starts.

On Monday, Syndergaard looked like a pitcher, not a thrower, and that’s an important step in his progression towards getting to the big leagues. It was a start, and not a finish, but a very encouraging step for him.