Manager Terry Collins spoke with Mike Vorkunov of NJ.com and fully supported the way David Wright handled the situation with top prospect Noah Syndergaard on Tuesday afternoon.
“There’s a code of conduct in a professional locker room. Our captain thought it was abused and therefore he took action. I’m on his side. I’m sure there’s a thing that happened on the other side.”
“I’m going to take the side of David and Bobby right now because when you’re a rookie there are no other excuses. We’re a team. We will be a team.”
As for Syndergaard, Collins called his actions an error of enthusiasm and a mistake.
“He will learn from it,” Collins said. “And if he does not, he will have a tough time here.”
Collins also had no issue with how Bobby Parnell disciplined Syndergaard. While Wright was scolding Syndergaard, Parnell grabbed his plate of food and dropped it into the trash bin.
“I think it’s the perfect way he dealt with it,” he said. “Perfect. I think Bobby did what I would do and a number of other guys would’ve have done. The captain made a statement and it wasn’t really adhered to and Bobby said, ‘Maybe he didn’t hear it’.”
“If a kid’s not playing nice, you take his toys away,” Parnell said.
“Being a young player, any chance you get to learn, you go out there and learn,” Wright told Newsday.
“I’m not a big ranter and raver. When I get on somebody, it’s 99 percent private. I’m not going to yell and scream. But when I speak to somebody, when I get on somebody, the point needs to be taken.”
Syndergaard told Marc Carig he was caught off guard by the controversy.
“It was surprising,” Syndergaard told Newsday. “It kind of caught me off guard. I really wasn’t expecting it to be that big of a deal. So it took me off guard a little bit. But I understand where it’s coming from.”
4:00 PM Original Post
Kristie Ackert of the Daily News broke the story that Mets captain David Wright had to lay down the law Tuesday afternoon when he spotted prospect Noah Syndergaard eating lunch in the clubhouse while the Mets’ Intrasquad game was taking place.
“Wright had just finished his work in the scrimmage and ran into the clubhouse where starting pitcher Zack Wheeler was talking to reporters.”
“That’s when he noticed Syndergaard, who did drills in the morning and who was not playing in the intrasquad game, sitting at the table in the clubhouse. Wright walked up and quietly but intently spoke to Syndergaard. Though his voice was quiet the word “bench,” was heard at least twice. The 22-year old spent the rest of the game out in the dugout watching the game, which ended in a scoreless tie.”
“It was a miscommunication,” Syndergaard said, explaining that he had missed lunch earlier in the day and was trying to eat and get out to the game.
Wright would not address the incident, nor would he talk about Syndergaard specifically, but he did speak about what he feels young players should be doing in training camp.
“If there is a young player that is here (in major-league camp) there is a reason, they have talent and potential,” Wright said. “I would encourage them to use this chance to take every opportunity to learn from it. If you are a young pitcher, you can learn from sitting in with meetings with Dan (Warthen) or watching a Zack Wheeler, who I know is young, but he has experience.”
“That’s what I think all young players should be doing,” Wright said. “That’s all.”
Good job by the Mets captain who continues to impress me as a leader. As the one everyone looks up to, it’s up to Wright to set the tone and the example, while addressing things like this before they escalate or become a distraction. Wright is the top cop in that clubhouse. Here are some reactions and I’ll add to them as others speak up:
Daniel Murphy – “I bet Noah doesn’t do it again.”
Bobby Parnell – “When you have a young and impressionable player, and you need to make him understand something that he’s not understanding, you have to be a little forceful.”
Noah Syndergaard – “I took it as a teaching moment. He made his point. I understand where David was coming from. We’re playing a team sport. I should be out there supporting my teammates.”
