With Mets minor league pitchers turning in many outstanding performances last week, it was difficult to decide who would be this week’s MMN pitcher of the week. Rafael Montero posted a terrific 1.20 ERA in 15 innings pitched for Las Vegas while Jacob Lugo, who flew under the radar for most of the season, dazzled in two starts for Savannah this week. However, I decided to select the Mets’ top prospect, Noah Syndergaard.

Syndergaard’s dominating two starts last week for Double-A Binghamton, in addition to his excellent season overall, has elevated his prospect status to a new level.

In Syndergaard’s first start against the Harrisburg Senators this week, he fired 5.0 scoreless innings and surrendered only two hits and one walk while striking out three. In his next outing against the Erie Sea Wolves, Syndergaard struck out five and yielded only 2 hits and a walk over 5.0 scoreless innings. So over the entire week, Syndergaard was 1-0 and allowed no runs in ten innings pitched.

For the season, Syndergaard is 8-3 with a 2.54 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP and has 119 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched.  He’s pitched even better since being called up to AA, going 5-0 with a 1.76 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 46.0 innings.

When the Mets acquired Syndergaard in the R.A. Dickey trade last winter, he wasn’t considered the top prospect in the deal. Now however, he is currently the top prospect in the system and is one of the top pitching prospects in the league. So congrats to Noah Syndergaard!

Thoughts from Joe D.

Great choice on MMN Player of the Week….

Here is a comment made by Keith Law yesterday, in a chat for ESPN Insider.

Regarding Syndergaard’s ceiling he says, “I see more of a mid-rotation guy with the lack of an average or better breaking ball.”

I’m not a scout, nor am I a pitching analyst, but I do know a few scouts and pitching analysts and those that I’ve spoken to rave about Syndergaard’s overall pitching repertoire.

Everyone agrees on his plus-plus fastball with plus-velocity, but I’ve heard some great things about his curve this season and some of you saw him use it with great efficiency during the Futures Game. That was one heck of a hook.

Meanwhile, just last week, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com said the following regarding Syndergaard:

“His combination of stuff, pitchability and aggressiveness on the mound point to a possible future as a frontline starter.”

That’s like night and day and two completely different assessments of this young righthander.

Ultimately, Syndergaard will likely fall somewhere in between. Any you know what? That would be an incredible accomplishment and a future number two starter who will slot in perfectly behind Matt Harvey one day.

And another thing, what Syndergaard has done to this point in his professional career, far exceeds anything that Harvey or Zack Wheeler have ever done. And he’s only 20… Think about that for a minute…

(Photo Credit: Gordon Donovan)