A changeup is in his ar-Syn-al now
PORT ST. LUCIE − Noah Syndergaard did not waste time. The big righthander barely waited for Jacob deGrom to step into the batter’s box before he threw the first of three straight fastballs. DeGrom tried to check his swing on the first, fouled off the second and just looked at the last one. The Mets’ No. 2 starter was laughing as he walked back to the dugout full of minor leaguers assembled for Syndergaard to get in his final work of spring.
“He’s gotten better hitters than me,” deGrom said with a laugh later of facing the Mets’ Opening Day starter. “Hey, I fouled one off.”
DeGrom got an at-bat before his last appearance of spring on Thursday in a game against the Mets’ Triple-A team, and Syndergaard got a chuckle in his “final stepping stone” of preparation before Opening Day.
Syndergaard’s final appearance of spring consisted of three “innings” in a minor league “game” that gave him a chance to throw low-key. He focused on consistently repeating his delivery, and he refined his two-seam fastball and put the finishing touches on his changeup.
That is the weapon he’s anxious to unleash this season.
“Thought I threw some really good ones today,” Syndergaard said of his changeup, which is the pitch he has been working on developing this spring. “Especially the last pitch in the third inning to (Wuilmer) Becerra was probably the best changeup I ever threw in my life.
“Frank Viola came over and said some kind words to me,” Syndergaard said of the Mets’ Triple-A pitching coach. “Encouraging.”
Not encouraging for opposing hitters, however.
Syndergaard has ditched the four-seam fastball, which he deemed “too straight,” for the two-seam with more late movement. That shift has made his changeup, which looks just like his 98-mph fastball out of his hand, simply an unfair pitch for hitters.
It’s just another weapon for Syndergaard and Rene Rivera — who is clearly going to be the young righthander’s personal catcher again this season — to choose from.
“He has so many good pitches,” said Rivera, who caught Syndergaard in the minor league game Wednesday. “We feel we can use any of them in any count. … (The changeup) is another weapon that he can use that is not a fastball or a slider. Now, he has fastball, slider, changeup and curve.”
Syndergaard was left behind from the final Grapefruit League game of the year Wednesday because the Mets were facing the Braves in Orlando. Syndergaard will open the Mets’ season Monday against the Braves at Citi Field.
Before the game, the Mets made it official that deGrom will follow Syndergaard in the rotation for the opening series against the Braves. Syndergaard will go against Braves ace Julio Teheran. After a day off on Tuesday, deGrom will face former beloved Met Bartolo Colon. Matt Harvey will close the series against Jaime Garcia.
Who will start the Marlins series on Thursday is the big question with the Mets sending Steven Matz for an MRI on his surgically-repaired elbow Wednesday. Most likely Robert Gsellman will slide into the No. 4 position and start that game.
Terry Collins said Wednesday that Matz will not be able to make the Opening Day roster, so the Mets have to make some decisions. They have time, however. The fifth starter technically will not need to be decided before Sunday.
Will the Mets go with Seth Lugo, who stepped into the injury-ravaged rotation last season and did well? Or will they bring Zack Wheeler along and start him in his first game after missing two years to rehab from Tommy John surgery.
Sandy Alderson said because of injury concerns, the Mets have yet to hold that final meeting to make roster decisions.
“But we’ll have to have soon.” it