What an amazing transformation Met fans are able to witness as Noah Syndergaard is quickly blossoming into the conversation as one of the best starting pitchers in the game.
Syndergaard is rounding into quite a complete pitcher, featuring an arsenal of plus pitches in his four-seam fastball, sinker, changeup, curveball, and his new toy, a slider. What’s even more amazing is that Syndergaard ranks first in average velocity on his fastball (98.4 mph), slider (92.3 mph), and changeup (90 mph). Even his curveball ranks first in average velocity at 82.9 mph!
And all those velocities are up from his rookie campaign in 2015, with his slider being a big part of the reason for his early season success so far. In 2015, Syndergaard threw his slider only 2.1% of the time, for an average velocity of 87.9 mph. This season, Syndergaard is relying on his slider almost a quarter of the time, at 23.2% for an average speed of 92.4 mph.
The slider has become a pitch that is synonymous with pitching coach Dan Warthen, whose been helping his pitchers incorporate it into their games. There were early accounts of Warthen’s slider tutelage in 2012, when Matt Harvey praised Warthen for teaching him how to hold the grip during Spring Training.
“Dan Warthen helped me out with the grip during Spring Training,” Harvey said. “I threw it last year, but I didn’t really know how to throw a slider.”
Fast forward to the present, where Syndergaard is taking Warthen’s slider and turning it into his own secret weapon, throwing it much harder than most that throw it. In his first start of the season on April 5th, Syndergaard went to the slider 23 times, and the Royals could do absolutely nothing with it. They went 1-for-9 with six strikeouts, which ESPN NY’s Adam Rubin reported was as many strikeouts as he had with the slider in the entire 2015 regular season.
Royal’s manager Ned Yost was amazed at the dominance Syndergaard had with his sliders, particularly in Syndergaard’s last batter in the sixth against DH Kendrys Morales with the bases loaded.
“There is no man alive who could have hit those three sliders [Syndergaard] threw to Morales,” Yost said. “I don’t think I have ever seen a 95-mph slider. George Brett was in here [his office] and I asked him if he could have hit that, and he said no way.” (NY Post)
While Syndergaard’s slider is a marvel of a pitch, he will always get high praise for his triple digit readings on the radar gun, and his ability to locate his fastball. On Monday night in Philadelphia, Syndergaard threw 12 pitches that were at least 100 mph, adding to his season total that currently stands at 15 according to MLB Statcast.
Of the 25 total pitches registered at 100 mph or greater this season, Syndergaard has thrown 60% of them, and three other pitchers threw the other ten pitches registered at that speed. Syndergaard owns five of the top ten fastest pitches this season, a stat we’re sure to see rise each start he makes.
Syndergaard’s meteoric rise has led to many comparisons to other All Star and Hall of Fame talent, past and present. He’s even been compared to a “max 10 video game player”, as David Wright recently spoke on after the Mets Monday night victory.
“My friends ask me about him,” the Mets captain said of his flame-throwing teammate, “and I say, ‘Think of it this way: When you used to play video games as a kid, if you build a player and put all the abilities up to max 10.’ He’s that guy you build in the video games.”
Former ’86 Champion and current Mets broadcaster Ron Darling told Mike Puma on Wednesday that he likens him to another former Met of the past.
“He looks like Nolan Ryan,” Darling said. “He walks like him. He acts like him, throws like him. He just has better control than Nolan had at that age. From my seat I’m having a hard time finding the words describing what he is doing.” (NY Post)
If Syndergaard’s career looks anything like Ryan’s, albeit with better control as Darling points out, we’re all in for something very special. This kind of talent doesn’t come around very often, and add in the poise and mound presence he has after only 27 Major League starts, and it makes it even more unbelievable.
How far we’ve come from just last Spring Training, when Syndergaard had to be spoken to by David Wright and ex-Met reliever Bobby Parnell for eating lunch in the clubhouse during an intrasquad game. They way Syndergaard handled the situation, and took the lumps from the captain was an encouraging sign that he was eager to learn from the misstep, and move on.
“It was just a learning point for me, a team camaraderie thing,” Syndergaard said. “I understand where David was coming from. We’re playing a team sport. I should be out there supporting my teammates.” (Newsday)
I love Thor’s attitude, the way in which is conducts himself on the mound, and his ability to locate all of his pitches for strikes. Looking at Fangraphs, Syndergaard’s plate discipline numbers are all showing vast improvements from last year.
First, Syndergaard’s O-Swing %, which is the percentage of pitches batters swing at outside the strike zone is up over five percentage points this year, currently at 38.4%. His O-Contact %, which has to do with the percent of time a hitter makes contact with a ball thrown outside the strike zone, is at 41.1% compared to last year when he registered a 58.1%.
This could be the effect of having better movement on his off-speed pitches and the inclusion of the slider. And his SwStr%, which is the percentage of strikes swung at and missed is up over seven percentage points this season at 19.3%. And it shows, as Syndergaard is currently tied for the most strikeouts in the Majors alongside Vince Velasquez of the Phillies.
There’s no sugarcoating it, Syndergaard is becoming the ace of this Mets staff. Joe D. asked the MMO staff before the season started on which Mets pitcher was going to have the best season. Before the season started, it was hard to pick out of deGrom, Harvey, and Syndergaard which one would have the best season. Joe D. made a great analogy in choosing a pitcher.
“You just won a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro (V8 455 horsepower model of course) and you have to choose from Hot Rod Red, Nightfall Gray or Metallic Tri-Coat Black. No matter which one you choose, you can’t go wrong.”
After his first three starts on this season, Syndergaard is quickly making this question an easy one to answer.
