The foundation of the Mets present and future is what’s contained in their starting rotation.
Even if the Mets eventually have more talent in their offense, there are going to be times the starting pitcher must produce a shutdown performance, especially at critical junctures in the regular season – like right now – and potentially the postseason down the road.
The Mets got that from Noah Syndergaard on Friday night against the Reds when he allowed just a run on five hits with five strikeouts in eight innings for his third win of the season.
“You couldn’t have told me that’s a 22-year-old kid out there today,” Collins said of his young pitcher. “He pitched an outstanding game. Everybody says he throws hard, that’s right. Well tonight, he commanded his off-speed pitches. If he can do that, he’s gonna win a lot of games.”
He did, indeed, and showed the club and the baseball world exactly how good he can be as he continues to grow in this league.
Syndergaard agreed Friday night was his best start to-date, although he downplayed the possibility he had made any adjustments since his last start.
“I would definitely say so,” Syndergaard explained. “Just had everything working for me. I don’t think it’s much different than my previous starts, just I was able to make quality pitches and execute and get quick outs.”
Part of his ability to get quick outs is that he threw a ton of strikes, which isn’t really different from his previous starts. On Friday night, Syndergaard threw 65 of his 89 pitches for strikes, but as is the case with Harvey, the opposition has begun to get very aggressive early in counts against the young right-hander.
That is resulting in more balls in play and fewer missed bats against Syndergaard right now. While it worked on Friday thanks to his ability to control the corners down in the zone, it’s an adjustment both he and Harvey have to be willing and able to make when that command is not present.
But on Friday, it worked for Syndergaard, as all the Reds could really do with him was induce weak groundouts (he did get some good defense from Wilmer Flores and Dilson Herrera behind him) and inconsequential flyouts. He found a way to make two hits and two runs from his meager offense behind him stand for a very critical 2-1 win to put the Mets back over the .500 mark.
The outing also had some historical significance for Syndergaard, as he became just the fourth pitcher in the last 100 years to have four outings with at least five strikeouts and no walks in his first nine major league appearances.
Collins said if the Mets had scored some more runs and he was facing a different part of the Reds order in the ninth, Syndergaard who have had a chance to achieve his first complete game of his young and promising career.
“Had it been 4-1, he goes out there, starts the inning,” Collins said.
Still, on Friday night Syndergaard not only justified the accolades of being a top prospect in the game, but took steps in the direction his colleagues in Harvey and Jacob deGrom have already embarked on.
That is to help form one of the fiercest three-headed monsters in the game at the top of the Mets rotation.
Just Mets 