NOAH: EARLY HEAT NO SYN
PORT ST. LUCIE — Noah Syndergaard is not going to go halfway. The Met righthander does not have a lower gear when he gets on the mound and, quite frankly, he isn’t looking for one. After making his spring debut on Monday featuring two 101-mile an hour fastballs and 11 at 100 or more, the critics and timid among the fans were shrieking that Syndergaard is going too fast, too soon.
“Who is freaking out? People with no baseball expertise? I am not too concerned people saying there is a harm throwing too hard, too early. If I am already there at this point and I am capable of doing that, then how is it too early?” said Syndergaard, who will make his second spring start on Saturday. “I wasn’t overthrowing. I was throwing free and easy. There were some pitches honestly where I threw 97 (mph) where I felt like I exerted more effort than the ones I threw 101.
“That’s not something I can worry about,” Syndergaard said. “I was under control.”
When Syndergaard opened his spring with three straight fastballs that were 100 miles an hour, he caught a lot of people off guard. After years of the Mets being so protective of their young arms, it was shocking to see one letting it go so early in the spring.
All those years of protection haven’t exactly worked out for the Mets, so who is to say holding Syndergaard back would help?
Last spring training, the Mets didn’t let their pitchers throw during fielding drills to try to protect their arms and all but one ended up on the disabled list. That included Syndergaard, who had set off alarms all over the Mets organization last spring when he talked about bulking up to throw harder, and then missed four months with a torn lat muscle.
And so Monday, when he lit up the radar guns, there were some Mets faithful who started to panic. Velocity does not always mean more effort, so do not let the radar gun freak you out.
This year, Syndergaard stuck to an offseason program that was more focused on flexibility, and until Monday he did not really talk about how hard he can throw.
He was “juiced” to face the Astros and excited to start his season. He is focusing on controlling his body and his delivery. The velocity came naturally to him.
This is who he is and asking him to change that is more likely to produce injury than throwing hard, pitching coach Dave Eiland said.
“If he is staying within his delivery, he’s clean and repeating and he’s not coming out of it in any way, you don’t mess with it,” Eiland said. “If it comes out at 100, it comes out at 100. If it comes out at 90, it comes out at 90. You try to get him to back off, then he may come out of his delivery, for lack of a better term, put the breaks on, that’s when something can go wrong. He was totally under control. As long as he stays under control.”
And Monday, Syndergaard was completely in control.
A veteran scout in the stands saw Syndergaard’s delivery and was shocked when he saw the radar gun reading on the scoreboard. The delivery was so smooth and effortless, he pulled out his own radar gun expecting to see that the numbers in the ballpark were inflated.
“Damn,” he said. “I was stunned. He looked like he didn’t even break a sweat.”
Syndergaard said he wasn’t trying to ramp it up, but admitted adrenaline in facing the Astros, who are coming off winning the World Series, was a factor.
“If I am facing Jose Altuve, the AL MVP, I am going to throw hard whether it’s in my backyard in January or in a game in November,” Syndergaard said. “There is no way to deny that. It is who I am.”
And Eiland sees no reason to change it. He loved that Syndergaard’s competitive juices were flowing on Feb. 26, noting of course that he actually got Altuve swinging and missing on a 92mile an hour changeup.
“As long as he stays under control then I am not going try and change anything,” Eiland said. “If the effort level and his ability to control his body and arm are there, then I don’t worry about it.”
Syndergaard doesn’t do half speed and as long as he is under control, he doesn’t have to.