New York Mets’ injured starter Noah Syndergaard played catch yesterday at Coors Field, his first baseball activities in over a week as per Tim Healey of Newsday.
Syndergaard, 25, has been sidelined since May 29 with a strained ligament in his right index finger. He threw from a distance of 60 feet yesterday and plans on stretching that out to 75 feet today.
As per Fangraphs, the 6′ 6″ Texan is keeping pace with his immaculate 2016 campaign after missing most of 2017 with a torn lateral muscle.
His 2016 season saw him notch a 2.60 earned-run average, a 2.29 fielding independent pitching rating, and 10.68 strikeouts and 2.11 walks per nine innings over thirty starts (183.2 innings pitched).
This season, Syndergaard has a 3.06 earned-run average in 11 starts (64.2 innings) with 10.58 strikeouts and 1.81 walks per nine innings, allowing 0.70 home runs per nine, and a 2.54 fielding independent pitching rating (FIP).
Mets manager Mickey Callaway spoke to Healey about a hopefully quick process leading up to the flamethrowing righty’s return.
“They’ve been doing a lot of shoulder-strengthening exercises and things like that, to make sure his arm stays in shape,” he said. “Being able to keep up with his arm exercises, he probably hasn’t lost a ton of arm strength.”
Mets’ pitching coach Dave Eiland gave a clearer possible timeline for Syndergaard’s return, telling Healey that he’d need “at least one” rehab outing under his belt, but possibly more.
“Maybe two. That’s not etched in stone. We’ll give him whatever it takes,” he said. “[…] We’ll do whatever it takes (until) we see what we need to see out of him.”
We will keep you up to date on Syndergaard’s status as he progresses through his rehab.
