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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — New York Mets manager Terry Collins has not officially revealed his opening day starter yet, waiting instead for a spring training announcement.
The worst-kept secret around the Mets is that it will be Noah Syndergaard taking the mound in the top of the first inning at Citi Field when New York opens the season against the Atlanta Braves.
That doesn’t mean the right-hander considers himself the staff ace.
“I really wouldn’t say I’m the leader of the staff. I think we’re all leaders in our own way and we’re all pulling for one another,” Syndergaard said at the club’s spring training home on Sunday, the day before pitchers and catchers report. “It’s like a brotherhood within the team. It’s really something cool to be a part of.”
However, Syndergaard has major factors that play in his favor to be the Mets’ first starting pitcher this year.
For starters, he’s young, strong, reliable and durable.
In a clubhouse that featured a rotation that ranked among the most oft-injured last year, Syndergaard was the Last Pitcher Standing as the long season unfolded.
Righties Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey had problems from the start, with both being injured in the spring and seeing their seasons cut short by surgeries.
Lefty Steven Matz had a nagging bone spur and saw his season end because of a shoulder issue that developed.
Prized right-hander Zack Wheeler had Tommy John surgery in March 2015, made one appearance in a Florida State League game for High A St. Lucie and was shut down.
Syndergaard, whose nickname is Thor, ultimately could have had another moniker: The Healthy One.
“As far as Terry mentioning (the opening day starter nod), that’s just a huge honor to me. I’m here to answer the call,” said Syndergaard, who is recovering from offseason bronchitis and flu. “Whatever the team needs, I’m here to fill that job.”
When Collins needed a starter for the win-or-go-home NL wild-card game against the San Francisco Giants, the manager turned to his workhorse.
Syndergaard, 24, more than held his own in a classic pitchers’ duel with southpaw Madison Bumgarner.
He didn’t allow a San Francisco hit until the sixth and worked seven scoreless, striking out 10 in an overpowering outing New York has grown accustomed to.
The Mets ultimately lost 3-0 in Bumgarner’s second consecutive shutout in the winner-take-all game.
Syndergaard has bulked up some in the offseason, training at a new facility, monitoring his diet more closely and consuming more protein.
He said the new workouts are more tailored to what he is trying to accomplish, which is to improve on his 14-9 mark, 2.60 ERA and 218 strikeouts last season.
Almost inconceivably, he also wants to throw harder.
Last season he routinely reached 100 mph on his fastball, which averaged 97.9 for the season.
That number was tops in the majors among qualified starting pitchers.
“I always want to throw harder and make the game easier,” he said. “I felt my velocity jumped up last year from my rookie season. I’ll try to raise that bar.”
However, he realizes pitching isn’t always about raring back and firing it as hard as he can.
He said his offseason work and preparation should help make him more comfortable in this third season.
”Hopefully, it allows me to go deeper into games with more ease, but also focusing on and maintaining my flexibility,” he said. “Pitching’s not just max effort; it’s all about being fluid.”
Braves’ Rodriguez to miss significant time with injury
As pleased as the Braves were to trade for second baseman Brandon Phillips and pay such a relatively small price for the former All-Star, they felt awful about the reason they needed to make the move: to replace injured Sean Rodriguez.
They had looked forward to big things from Rodriguez after signing him to a two-year free-agent contract in late November, but the versatile veteran could miss most if not all of the season after sustaining a shoulder injury in a terrifying Jan. 28 car crash that left his wife with significant injuries and two of their children briefly hospitalized.
The Braves wouldn’t comment on the status of Rodriguez or the nature of his injury, other than to offer their support and prayers for the well-being and recovery of the player and his family.
Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported Rodriguez would have shoulder surgery soon and miss three to five months for shoulder surgery, but another person familiar with the situation said there was a chance Rodriguez could miss the entire season. When the accident occurred, it was first believed and reported that Rodriguez had escaped serious injury.
Rodriguez, 31, was coming off a career-best season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and would’ve been the Braves’ primary second baseman to start the season while prospect Ozzie Albies continued his development at Triple-A. The Braves were also excited about adding the highly regarded veteran’s leadership in the clubhouse.
Rodriguez, his wife and two of their four children were injured in a Jan. 28 accident in Miami, his hometown, when the SUV that Rodriguez was driving was T-boned by a stolen police cruiser on a Saturday afternoon. The driver of the stolen car was killed and that vehicle burst into flames.
Rodriguez’s wife, Giselle, posted on her Twitter account three days later that the family felt thankful to be alive and that she had a broken tibia and femur and would have wrist surgery. She indicated that only one of the children remained hospitalized at that time and that the child’s injuries weren’t severe.
There have been no updates since on the status of Rodriguez or family members, either from the team or the family.
— McClathy