Pitching for October:
Young pitchers key to playing in October
While the Mets might be lacking on offense, their young power arms could make them formidable should they reach the playoffs.
Do deadline deals for pitchers really pay off? Page 6
The Johnny Cueto trade is a reality check for small markets, Page 8
No one has questioned Noah Syndergaard’s talent in his short professional career. He is 6-6 and 240 pounds with a fastball that has touched 100 mph. His ability to handle adversity, though, has been doubted.
The right-hander began to answer those doubts in an early-July game against the Los Angeles Dodgers..
In the sixth inning, Syndergaard made a fielding error on a slow roller by Howie Kendrick and then walked Justin Turner with one out.
After getting Adrian Gonzalez to line out, he found himself in a 3-2 count against Yasiel Puig in a 1-1 game.
One might have thought his high-octane fastball was the clear choice in that count. But Syndergaard, 22, struck Puig out with a curveball. The Mets won 2-1 as Syndergaard beat the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw.
“You talk about maturity, he had to match the pitch that was called for, he had to make it, and he made it,” Mets manager Terry Collins says. “That’s when I said, ‘This kid, he’s here.’ ”
The Mets entered Monday 51-48 and two games behind the Washington Nationals in the National League East. For eight consecutive seasons, they have missed the playoffs. And since Matt Harvey debuted in 2012, they have kept their young power pitchers on innings limits.
But the 2015 postseason is likely to change that thinking. .
“We’ll worry about the postseason once we get there but it’ll be real flexible once we get there,” Collins says. “They are all going to be fine. They’re on pace to get to the numbers that we anticipated, but if there is October baseball, they will be able to pitch, believe me.”
All of the Mets’ young starting pitchers, including 24-year-old