What took so long?
Shall we call it a break through?
This past Sunday, Noah Syndergaard finally becomes a pitcher, if for only a day. Although his continuing growth as a craftsman remains to be seen, on this day he pitches nine full innings for his first ever complete game victory over the Giants at San Francisco. A rather brilliant effort, he surrenders one run on just two hits and a walk, with eleven strikeouts. Noah faces thirty batters, and throws an economical 114 pitches (12.5 per inning) with an efficient 87 (76%) going for strikes.
A Mets bullpen routinely asked to contribute three innings in relief of a typical Noah Syndergaard start were given the day off. That being said, Sunday's effort is in stark contrast to his performance just three starts ago, when on Aug. 17 Syndergaard throws 115 pitches but only lasts 5.2 innings against Philadelphia. Which, therein lies his career narrative. He's been good - very good in fact - but only for one hundred pitches, or six innings, which ever comes first.
With Sunday's nine inning effort, he's now averaging 6.2 innings this season through twenty starts. Previous to Sunday, however, he was only averaging just a shade under six innings per outing.
After effectively missing all of 2017, this is indeed a comeback season for him. And lest we forget his bout with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. But this has been the Noah Syndergaard syndrome ever since his rookie season. At this juncture of his career, he should have already achieved higher ground. Yet four years later he's merely trying to reestablish who and what he was as a rookie.
Compare the seasons; they speak for themselves.
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