Jonah Tong had just finished throwing a bullpen and was looking at a replay of one of his sliders when Triple-A Syracuse manager Dick Scott had a question for him.
“You ready to start Friday?” the manager asked, according to Tong, who was asked by reporters Thursday about the moment he found out he earned the biggest promotion of his career. “And I’m like, ‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’ And then he’s like, ‘Cool because you’re going to be pitching against the Marlins in Citi Field on Friday.’ And I was like, ‘Pardon?'”
When Scott asked Tong if he was ready to go on Friday, Tong thought he was referring to Syracuse’s game with the Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
“So definitely a crazy day, but it was awesome,” Tong said. Asked if he thought the call was coming, Tong said, “Nope. That’s pretty much no, not at all.”
“Weirdly enough, my first thought was I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do some of my school courses this offseason with how the busy schedule is, but it was really exciting.”
Then the 22-year-old called his mom, dad, and girlfriend, but only mom answered right away.
“I was like, ‘Hey, where you at on Friday?’ And she’s like. ‘Get out.’ … she got me pretty good. I think for the rest of like the hour, I was just like bawling. My dad didn’t pick up originally. I think he was having a tough day at work, but I think I made his day a little better.”
Tong will wear No. 21 when he makes his debut 13 days after Nolan McLean made his first career start at Citi Field against Seattle.
The right-hander, who leads the minor leagues in ERA and strikeouts, was asked what the biggest difference in him is between now and when the Mets drafted him in the seventh round in 2022.
“I think I put on 25 pounds, so that helps,” said Tong, who is listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds. “I was small as a kid who was just barely trying to find his way through. And then year after year it was just more about being the same kid I always am and especially the one my parents brought me up to be. That’s definitely helped just take everything in.”
