Just a couple of days after saying New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard has “yet to do a whole lot” in the big leagues, pitching coach Dave Eiland corrected himself.
Ever say something to someone that you immediately regretted and wished you could take back? New York Mets pitching coach Dave Eiland is feeling this way with some recent comments he made about Noah Syndergaard.
It was on Monday that Eiland uttered those regrettable remarks to Mike Puma of the New York Post.
“I just don’t know where the expectations came from. He’s spent, what, 2 ¹/₂ years in the big leagues? So I don’t know where all the expectations came from, I wasn’t here for all that, but he is yet to do a whole lot at the major league level.
“Now is he capable of it? Yeah, but he is 25 years old. For the most part, every game he’s kept us in it and given us a chance to win.”
Well, those comments created enough of a stir that he had to publicly correct himself, via Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News:
“Noah and I have talked, We have had a lot of conversation, not just about my quotes. I was defending him actually. If he doesn’t go seven with one run or less, everybody is criticizing him, because he is supposed to be dominant. He’s human.
“I think Noah would be the first to tell you there are things he needs to work on. He’s an upper echelon guy; he’s a top shelf starting pitcher in all of baseball. He’s going to be really good. But he hasn’t been around long enough. He doesn’t have that long of a track record.”
Eiland probably had to do this, but he’s actually right. Syndergaard’s pure stuff is among the best in baseball, but he only has one full year of pitching in the big leagues under his belt. That came in 2016 when he appeared in 31 games (30 starts) and threw a total of 183.2 innings.
Some may say his rookie campaign in 2015 should also count since he threw 150 innings over 24 starts, but that ’16 campaign is the only one where he went from start-to-finish, taking the ball nearly every fifth day.
While Syndergaard’s overall stats look solid—he’s 3-1 with a 3.14 ERA and a 28.0 percent strikeout rate through 51.2 innings—he hasn’t exactly been his usual dominant self. He talked about it following Tuesday’s 12-2 victory, via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.
Noah Syndergaard says he's still looking to get back to "the Noah of old." #Mets pic.twitter.com/UlV4b1eQZ5
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) May 16, 2018
The imposing right-hander has completed at least six innings in six of his nine starts but has gone longer than that just once.
New York needs Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom to lead this pitching staff, with hopes that at least one of Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz, or Jason Vargas (or someone else) can follow suit to a degree, which hasn’t happened yet in 2018.
