Hoping for a big comeback season in 2019
Noah Syndergaard, starting for a World Series team in his rookie season
Of course they call him Thor, the man looks more Scandinavian than half the cast of the history channels cable show about vikings. Noah Syndergaard, however, is a Texan. He's also a man who, despite it only being his first ever season in Major League Baseball, helped pitch his team into the World Series.
Noah Syndergaard didn't go it alone in the Mets rotation. There were some other fine arms there, arms with just a little more experience. Heck, he wasn't even the only long hair hippie looking rocket arm in the Mets rotation, there was also, of course, Jacob deGrom.
What seems certain is that Noah Syndergaard was the biggest human in the Mets rotation in the year of 2015, the year they went to the World Series, but lost to Kansas City. How big a fella is he? Well, he's six foot and six inches, and at least two hundred and forty pounds. No, being huge doesn't guarantee that a man will have a rocket launcher for a throwing arm, but in the case of Noah Syndergaard, well, he has one of those.
The big man can swing a big bat too. Noah Syndergaard hit a home run in 2015. He even batted a very respectable, for a pitcher, .209.
Noah Syndergaard, a big man with a big swing
Noah Syndergaard, and the one hundred mile an hour fastball
Noah Syndergaard hitting a home run might be an advantageous thing for the Mets, it might be something that happens more frequently than we'd ever hope, but if it does happen it means one thing only - that Noah Syndergaard is in the game pitching. The course was set long ago, this guy is going to be a pitcher. His large size makes him every man scouting Major League Baseball's dream. Someone that big, with that much of an arm, ought to be able to throw those high 90s heaters all night long, and all season long.
The big time fastball Syndergaard brings to the game is legit. He's been clocked at 100 miles per hour on many occasions, and so, he's forever going to be on that list with others from Texas who hit triple digits, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan, Kerry Wood, people like that. Syndergaard has come into games as a reliever for the Mets, and when that happened he had the opportunity to really air it out with the fastballs. Such a situation brings the inevitable comparison to the nearly incomparable Aroldis Chapman, but Syndergaard can hit triple digits well enough in a game he starts.
Noah Syndergaard - growing up in North Texas
Like Noah Syndergaard, I am a Texan. I love Texas, but I don't care anything about football. Texas is a football loving state, there's nothing to be done about it. You can bet young Noah Syndergaard, as a kid who didn't pursue football, got some verbal abuse about it all. He's so damn big, why doesn't he play football? Well, obviously, football isn't nearly so smart a sport as is baseball. Noah was apparently a more brainy kid, he picked baseball, and in baseball a gifted athlete can have a much longer and more prosperous career, and without all the stupidity and head injuries you get with football.
Noah was always a big kid. This shouldn't surprise anyone. Little league fields may be small, but Noah hit a ball over a little league outfield fence when he was just seven years old. Me? I never hit one over any fence. Noah Syndergaard grew up watching the Texas Rangers baseball team. He literally hated the Dallas Cowboys, and his culture's infatuation with them. This is about the point where me and Noah are likely to stop being compared, but you should know, if you are in Texas, and you are a white guy, folks are forever going to just assume you're as wrapped up in that Dallas Cowboys junk as they are. I was always kinda insulted by that, myself. Why would someone assume I cared about that sort of nonsense? Indeed, Noah felt the same way about it.
Every time I hear about Noah Syndergaard in the local Dallas and Fort Worth media, they talk about how Noah Syndergaard attended Mansfield Legacy High School. It must be a school the people are damned proud of, they make it sound like the kind of place you have to have money or high, very high scores to attend if you're a youngster. Anyway, when Noah was in his junior year in high school, he hit a growth spurt, and grew to a man of six feet and six inches tall.
So while still in high school Syndergaard could reach back and hurl a ball 96 miles per hour. He still didn't get a lot of attention from the baseball scouts, they were probably looking for cheaper deals in Central America. Noah decided to go to Dallas Baptist University, and there is where he had planned to play ball.
Noah Syndergaard with the Lansing Lugnuts in 2012
Noah Syndergaard's minor league career
When the 2010 Major League Draft came around, Noah was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays, and given a nice large signing bonus to drop his whole Dallas Baptist University idea. For $600,000 dollars, you'd change your mind too, probably. Noah would spend a couple seasons in the minor leagues with the Blue Jays, and then he'd be traded to New York.
He was now set for the biggest stage there is in baseball, playing in New York City. He'd be rated as the Mets' 3rd best prospect. In 2013 he made the All Star futures game, a game of the best prospects in the minor leagues. In 2014 Noah would spend the year in Las Vegas with the Mets triple A team. He did well, but his earned run average was sort of high. The Mets weren't in a big hurry, they trusted their team advisers.
Big Noah Syndergaard with the New York Mets in 2015
Noah Syndergaard with the New York Mets in 2015
Noah would make his Major League debut in 2015 with the Mets on the 12th day of May at historic Wrigley Field in Chicago. The same month, he'd show he can swing the bat too, and hit a home run. Noah Syndergaard is a weight lifting man, and as Nolan Ryan demonstrated, lifting weights can prolong your career. Noah is just getting started though, but we hope he sticks to his weight training discipline.
July would see Noah pitch a game where he struck out 13 batters. In August, he'd share a National League Player of the Week designation. He would finish his rookie season with a winning record of 9 wins and 7 loses, and post a nice earned run average of 3.24 runs per game. With his blazing fastballs, curve, slider, and circle change-up, he'd strike out 166 batters in 150 innings pitched. I suspect Noah will strike out over 200 batters this year in 2016, but he could likely do more, if the team allows him to throw many more innings than last year. These days in Major League Baseball the teams aren't letting their starters take on much of an innings workload, they've got too specialized a bullpen for all of that, and they want to protect the longevity of the young men's arms.
Another of the exciting things including Noah in the 2015 regular season was the night Syndergaard faced off with fellow Texan, and super ace Clayton Kershaw. The night was a dream for those who closely follow Texans in Major League Baseball. Syndergaard matched Kershaw that night, and saw, as we all did, that he can be as good as the guy who's won so many accolades. You can also bet the Mansfield Legacy folks were ecstatic to see there guy standing toe to toe with the man from Highland Park.
The New York Mets won the National League Eastern division last year, and so they advanced to the playoffs, and there was Noah Syndergaard, the rookie starter. Noah got to start game 2 of the National League Division Series. Noah pitched well, but he did get the loss in that game. No matter that, the Mets won the series and advanced to the National League Championship Series - and again, Noah got a chance to shine, but this time he came in as a relief pitcher first, then got a start later.
The Mets won the National League, and advanced to the World Series. Noah Syndergaard, as a huge man physically, and with the ability to throw triple digit fastballs, he knows how intimidating he is, and he knows this favors him. He quickly ran up the tempers of the opposition in the World Series by throwing high heat inside to the batters of the Kansas City Royals. That's baseball though, and if you can't take the heat, then maybe you should let someone else handle the kitchen. Noah Syndergaard won his World Series start in his rookie season. Surely the 2016 season will be a good one for the man from Mansfield. The stars of Texas will surely shine down upon him. Thanks for reading.
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