Just Mets

On Sunday, Noah Syndergaard allowed only a run on three hits with five strikeouts against the Brewers to earn his first big league victory.

It was his second career start – he’s 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings, having allowed five walks, nine hits and four earned runs with 11 strikeouts.

On Monday, Sandy Alderson told reporters on Monday at the Manhattan VA Hospital he has been impressed with Syndergaard in his first two outings, particularly with his composure.

“I think yesterday just his ability to stay focused and again after the Gomez incident and he can come back after that to get out of the inning, to get himself re-composed,” Alderson explained. “I think he’s done an excellent job and I think you can see growth from the first start to the second.”

Still, with Dillon Gee inching closer to returning from the disabled list, Alderson is not ready to commit to a decision about whether or not to keep Syndergaard in the big leagues.

“I’m not prepared to comment on that right now,” Alderson said. “It’s too speculative at this point.”

Alderson didn’t rule out the possibility Syndergaard could return to Las Vegas when Gee returns, a place he went 3-0 with a 1.82 ERA over five starts before being promoted last week.

“I think there’s always room to learn, whether you’re learning at the major league level or learning at the minor league level,” Alderson said about Syndergaard.

On Sunday, Terry Collins was also non-committal about what the team will do with Syndergaard once Gee returns, although he feels the team has a difficult decision to make very shortly.

“An outing like [Sunday’s] makes [the looming rotation decisions] hard,” Collins said about Syndergaard.

Syndergaard has shown in his first two starts he belongs here in a big league rotation. He’s carried the lessons he’s learned from his struggles last year into the big leagues, and he’s shown quickly to be a pitcher who could very well emerge as a top-of-the-rotation starter very quickly. That’s very hard to take out of the starting rotation, especially since the whole formula for the success of this franchise has centered around the young starting pitching they have here.

As such, the decision is more about how the Mets will handle Gee’s role with the team than Syndergaard.

“This is about the big picture,’’ Collins told Kevin Kernan of the New York Post on Monday. “I hope our fan base understands what they are looking at because this is going to be special for a few years.”

That big picture Collins referred to is inclusive of Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler, and shortly Steven Matz. 

So, if Syndergaard is ready (which he is), the decision isn’t terribly difficult.