Mets Will Finally Give Promising Rookie Starter A Shot

The New York Mets have been hinting and waffling about the possibility of giving promising prospect Jonah Tong a shot, and now it looks like it will finally happen, according to a report from Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. 

Tong has had a rough, up-and-down season at Triple-As he acknowledged earlier this year at Triple-A Syracuse. 

“Development is not linear, unfortunately,” Tong said. “Sometimes, things just take a little bit to click.”

Things have clicked lately for Tong, though, as he’s pitched to an ERA of 0.84 in his last four starts for Syracuse, according to DiComo. His call-up is finally being discussed, and the forecast has him starting at Syracuse on Saturday, then facing the Miami Marlins next week. 

“There’s a lot of things from a season standpoint that didn’t go my way from a results standpoint,” Tong said. “I own that. I wear that. And I’m going to be better for it. But honestly, from a mental side, it’s only helped. It’s given me more experiences to lean on. And I’m really excited to see not only the person I am this year, but for the rest of my career and how I can relate back to this at any point.”

It’s still inexplicable that this hasn’t happend earlier given how bad the Mets have been, but Tong’s Triple-A pitching coach, A.J. Sager, talked about the frustrations Tong has experienced. 

“It was frustrating for him early on,” Sager said. “I know that, because of the expectations … it felt like he had a lot of pressure on him and probably wasn’t feeling great that he wasn’t answering the call.”

Another Mets developmental pitching coach, Garrett Baker, has given Tong some advice that should be followed more often: Follow the career of Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux, who struggled early before hitting his stride to become a 300-game winner. 

“It’s just been, honestly, a daily reminder for my entire career,” Tong said.

Tong has made some adjustments in his arm angle, but he’s not worried about those. Instead he’s focused on what’s about to happen, which is that he’s about to get another chance to make the jump to the big leagues and make it stick. 

“The reality is that I’m 23 years old, I’m playing professional baseball and I get an opportunity to come to a ballpark and show off my craft,” Tong said, before adding: “Sometimes I have to wake up and remind myself … I’m 23, and I’m doing some pretty cool things.”