Noah Syndergaard “Livid” Over Wilson Ramos Catching Him
Updated, 5:32 PM: Mets skipper Mickey Callaway spoke to SNY‘s Steve Gelbs regarding Syndergaard’s grievances, telling Gelbs, “Noah understands that I’m going to make the lineup out and he’s going to go out there and compete for the team”, adding “he understands that we’re trying to do something special”.
Original Post: According to Joel Sherman and Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard “became livid” upon learning he was pitching to backstop Wilson Ramos, not backups Rene Rivera or Tomas Nido, ahead of Sunday’s loss to the Phillies, inducing an impromptu “half-hour sit-down” with general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.
As per the report, “Van Wagenen’s front office believes the pitcher-catcher dynamic is overstated” which is a hard-right from the stance the first-year GM — still a player agent at the time — took last season with his then-client, Jacob deGrom, and his preference to throw to Devin Mesoraco — to which the Mets mostly adhered.
Syndergaard, 27, has pitched to a 2.45 ERA over 66 innings with Nido behind the plate, thrown seven scoreless innings to Rivera in his only action with the late-season roster addition, and has posted a 5.09 ERA over 92 innings thrown to Ramos.
Over 175 innings in total this season (28 starts), the power righty owns a 4.06 ERA (3.47 FIP) with 176 strikeouts (9.05 per nine), 44 walks (2.26 per nine), and 1.19 WHIP.
Naturally, Ramos’ .298/.360/.434 slash line, 14 homers, 16 doubles, 71 RBIs, and low strikeout totals (58 over 470 plate appearances; 12.3 percent), as well as the $19 million the Mets are paying him over the next two seasons, will afford him the starting catching duties, regardless of his sub-par defensive skills (-12 DRS and -7.8 framing runs below average are both worst in MLB).
Though, if Syndergaard, the Mets’ undisputed number-two starter and a game-changer when he’s in the zone, feels (and appears to be) more comfortable with Nido or Rivera behind the plate, it seems like a more-than-fair concession to make to a player the general manager himself called “part of the Mets’ core” in July.
We’ll keep you posted with more information as it becomes available.