In his first start of the season for Triple-A Las Vegas, Mets prospect Noah Syndergaard delivered a solid outing that saw him allow two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five in six innings pitched.
The young righty threw 51 of his 76 pitches for strikes and induced eight groundball outs on the night.
The plan is to not let Thor toss more than 5-6 innings in any start while in the minors to conserve his workload and eventually spend some time in the majors.
Marc Carig of Newsday reported on Thursday that Syndergaard will also see time in the bullpen to make occasional relief appearances after speaking to Mets vice president Paul DePodesta.
“The plan would be for any relief stints to be fairly brief,” DePodesta told Newsday. “In other words, we don’t expect any of the starters to go into the ‘pen for a month at a time or anything like that. Of course, the situation could change. But that’s the feeling as of now.”
“There’s a chance we could do it with anyone, depending on the circumstances,” said DePodesta when asked if Syndergaard would be one of those who will pitch out of the bullpen in minor-league games. “It’s not a matter of changing their role. It’s really a matter of workload.”
Earlier in the week Alderson said that it was “unlikely” that Syndergaard would be one of the pitchers used by the Mets to stock the bullpen later in the season.
It appears based on the route they are taking with him, that Syndergaard will follow the same path as Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler and come up mid season around mid to late June.
(Updated 4/5, Photo Credit: Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun)
