#MCM- Noah Syndergaard, SP, New York Mets
@Hoover__26 April 11
Welcome to the first ever FF_U MLB #MCM. I will kick off the baseball season with an article about one of my favorite young players in the game today. Now, let me start off by saying that Noah Syndergaard, in my opinion, is the best pitcher in the Mets rotation. He is certainly better than Matt Harvey (whom I feel will never live up to the hype OR potential), and is also better than fellow long-haired stud Jacob deGrom (whom I find a little inconsistent for my taste). “Thor”, as Noah has come to be known, has a rare combination of velocity and skill at the starting spot. Thor throws his fastball at nearly triple digit speed, and his sinker often climbs near there as well. The fact is, everything is hard from Syndergaard. His slider hovers at around 92, which is near the MLB average velocity for a fastball. Heck, Syndergaard’s curveball is the speed of everyone else’s changeup.
Thor has drawn plenty of comparisons in the season or so he has been in the majors. Some have even gone so far as to compare him to Nolan Ryan. However, one player in particular comes to mind when I watch Noah. He reminds me of one of Nolan Ryan’s former teammates in Houston, the legendary J.R. Richard. Before tragedy befell him, he was probably the most talented pitcher in the MLB. Richard’s slider was so fast and hard that it was practically unhittable (and yes, I put both “fast” and “hard” there for a reason, as I have always felt that you can hit high speeds on the radar gun without necessarily giving the feel of throwing “hard” or “firm”). Syndergaard has everything he needs to be a real star, and I foresee him doing just that pretty soon.
Something truly remarkable about both deGrom and Syndergaard is the fact that they barely make pennies on the dollar of other star pitchers. Syndergaard is only making a little over $500,000, which is a shocking value for a team that is known for their seriously stupid contract moves (they are going to pay Bobby Bonilla until 2035, in case you needed proof).
Thor offers unmatched fantasy upside (which is why I own him in half of my four leagues this season), and doesn’t have all that many factors detracting from his being a #1 or #2 starter in any fantasy format. He hit 10 strikeouts per 9 innings last season (baseball-reference.com), and only walked 1.9 per 9 innings (which would have been good enough for top 20 in the MLB, according to foxsports.com). He goes pretty deep into games, averaging about 6.25 innings per start. However, he was the 17th starting pitcher drafted on average in espn.com drafts, making him the third Mets pitcher drafted in most leagues (which is the most pitchers taken in the top 20 from any one team, ahead of Chicago, Washington and Cleveland who all have 2). Honestly, I don’t see any reason why he can’t end up in the top 10 in fantasy points scored when the year is done. Normally I would finish up by saying something like “keep an eye on Syndergaard’s pitching”, but this time I don’t think I can. Reason being, at the speed Noah throws I doubt you could even see his pitches if you tried.
Thor has drawn plenty of comparisons in the season or so he has been in the majors. Some have even gone so far as to compare him to Nolan Ryan. However, one player in particular comes to mind when I watch Noah. He reminds me of one of Nolan Ryan’s former teammates in Houston, the legendary J.R. Richard. Before tragedy befell him, he was probably the most talented pitcher in the MLB. Richard’s slider was so fast and hard that it was practically unhittable (and yes, I put both “fast” and “hard” there for a reason, as I have always felt that you can hit high speeds on the radar gun without necessarily giving the feel of throwing “hard” or “firm”). Syndergaard has everything he needs to be a real star, and I foresee him doing just that pretty soon.
Something truly remarkable about both deGrom and Syndergaard is the fact that they barely make pennies on the dollar of other star pitchers. Syndergaard is only making a little over $500,000, which is a shocking value for a team that is known for their seriously stupid contract moves (they are going to pay Bobby Bonilla until 2035, in case you needed proof).
Thor offers unmatched fantasy upside (which is why I own him in half of my four leagues this season), and doesn’t have all that many factors detracting from his being a #1 or #2 starter in any fantasy format. He hit 10 strikeouts per 9 innings last season (baseball-reference.com), and only walked 1.9 per 9 innings (which would have been good enough for top 20 in the MLB, according to foxsports.com). He goes pretty deep into games, averaging about 6.25 innings per start. However, he was the 17th starting pitcher drafted on average in espn.com drafts, making him the third Mets pitcher drafted in most leagues (which is the most pitchers taken in the top 20 from any one team, ahead of Chicago, Washington and Cleveland who all have 2). Honestly, I don’t see any reason why he can’t end up in the top 10 in fantasy points scored when the year is done. Normally I would finish up by saying something like “keep an eye on Syndergaard’s pitching”, but this time I don’t think I can. Reason being, at the speed Noah throws I doubt you could even see his pitches if you tried.