Noah Syndergaard tossed six scoreless innings on Friday night, scattering seven hits, walking none and striking out seven in an extra-innings loss to El Paso. The Mets’ top pitching prospect has allowed one run or less in four of his last five starts spanning 29.1 and striking out 33 batters.
In the past month, Syndergaard has shaved over one full run off his ERA, bringing it down to a very respectable 4.88 while toiling in one of the worst pitching environments in professional baseball. It was 107 degrees at game time last night.
It’s still not clear if the Mets have changed their stance on whether Syndergaard will make his debut this season, but the 21-year old righty is really pushing the envelope lately and has poured it on in Las Vegas.
That said, it was interesting to hear what Terry Collins had to say about the possibility of Syndergaard pitching for the Mets this season. You may remember it was Collins who first suggested Syndergaard would likely not make his major league debut this season.
Collins told the New York Times that he’d love to see Syndergaard come up, but that right now the team’s focus is on winning games and if the Mets are in contention there may not be a spot for Syndergaard in the rotation.
“I know one thing: They better help us win games when they get here,” Collins said of any prospects who will be promoted.
Collins then claims that some of baseball’s best managers have warned him about giving too much playing time to younger players.
“I’ve had a lot of managers tell me, ‘Be careful playing a lot of young players because they’re going to make just enough mistakes to get beat.’ And some of the best managers in the game have told me that.”
“We all want our young players up here. But right now, we’re in the hunt. So we’re going to be careful when they come and the role they’re going to have.”
August 1
Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that the Colorado Rockies sent a sizable contingent to watch Mets pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard pitch for Triple-A Las Vegas in his most recent start according to an industry source.
It was Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports who first reported that the Mets contacted the Rockies about Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez and told them that Syndergaard was up for grabs for wither of them.
Sandy Alderson somewhat denied Syndergaard was being shopped the next day, but then yesterday he told reporters that he was talking teams about very significant players and did warn that if the Mets do pursue someone significant, Thor will likely be on the menu although not named specifically.
“In order to potentially improve the club in some significant way as opposed to some incremental way, we would have had to been prepared to deal some of our young pitching and at this particular stage we’re not prepared to do that,” Alderson said.
The Mets GM also hinted strongly that he preferred not to make any such deals at the deadline. “If we’re going to trade some of our young prospects, we’re probably better off doing that in the offseason.”
Unlike most fans, I don’t get too attached to the names on the back of the jerseys at the expense of the name on the front of the jerseys. As long as it improves the team and our chances for another championship,. nobody should be untouchable – and doubly so for unproven commodities in the minors.
