Just Mets

Whether the Mets have been rolling or struggling, the one common denominator throughout the first 26 games for the Mets has been the strength of their pitching staff, in particular their starting pitching.

The starters have compiled a 3.11 ERA, the third best mark in the majors behind only the Pirates and the Cardinals. They’ve issued only 31 walks, third fewest behind the Dodgers and the Cubs.

Most recently the starters posted a 1.85 ERA in their four-game series against the Nationals despite going 1-3 during that stretch.

As such, Terry Collins said on Sunday afternoon the Mets are not close to promoting one or both of their top pitching prospects, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz, from Triple-A Las Vegas.

“There are a lot of things that have to take place,” Collins said. “All we do is continue to hope [Syndergaard and Matz] keep pitching well and force us to make a decision.”

Matz has had one bad outing and four stellar outings for Las Vegas this season. He is 3-1 with a 1.84 ERA with 31 strikeouts and 14 walks in 29 1/3 innings. Five of those walks came in his second start of the season in Sacramento.

Syndergaard has begun to pitch well after a rough beginning. He has pitched 14 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings with only two walks and 19 strikeouts over his last two starts. Overall, Syndergaard is 2-0 with a. 1.66 ERA with eight walks and 26 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings this year.

After Thursday’s off-day, the Mets have 20 consecutive games ahead of them, and they’re going to use a spot starter at least once during that stretch of games. With Rafael Montero now on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, all signs are pointing to the Mets using either Matz or Syndergaard, unless they decide to forego a roster move and use Carlos Torres for that spot. The latter seems unlikely because Torres is being used as a late inning reliever now and not for multiple innings – he would have to quickly get stretched out a couple of times in order to get ready to start a game.

It therefore seems logical Syndergaard would get the start. He has the innings at Double-A and higher (150-plus) whereas Matz still needs 50 innings to reach that threshold. And, if Syndergaard keeps pitching the way he does, his performance will further justify a promotion. That doesn’t mean Matz doesn’t deserve it, but his time will come anyway if he continues to pitch like this as well, sooner rather than later. Remember, the 29 1/3 innings at Las Vegas are the only innings he’s thrown about Double-A.

The bigger question is what the Mets do once Syndergaard or Matz (or both) are here. They’ve said a few times since camp they will not have a continuous six-man rotation; it can be argued a sixth starter once through the rotation is disruptive enough. Something will have to give, so barring injury, it probably behooves Dillon Gee and Jon Niese to keep pitching well over the next month or so.

It’s worth noting both Matz and Syndergaard have roughly the same innings limits this year (between 160-170), so that should play a role in how they are used as both a spot starter and maybe permanent fixtures down the road in 2015 as well.