N.Y. Mets: Thor's Economy Trending Bullish

From the desk of:  HEAD BUTTING MR. MET

Noah Syndergaard Polishing His Hammer

Noah Syndergaard made his eighth start of the season Tuesday evening at Washington.  To date, it was easily his best performance this season in three starts against the Nationals.

• 3/30 - (No Decision @ WAS) 6 inn; 4 ER; 7 hits; 0 W; 7 K.  His 103 pitches against 25 batters faced translates into an average of 4.12 pitches per batter.  Over six innings he averaged 17.1 pitches per inning.
• 4/4 - (Loss @ N.Y.) 6 inn; 2 ER; 1 H; 2 W; 6 K.  His 98 pitches against 21 batters faced translates to 4.66 pitches per batter, while total pitches divided by six innings equals an average of 16.3 pitches per inning.

• 5/14 - (Win @ WAS) Syndergaard yielded two earned runs on just four hits and one walk with six strikeouts through eight innings pitched (he yielded a home run to Victor Robles in the sixth).  He threw 102 total pitches with 64 (63%) going for strikes.  He faced 28 batters, averaging an improved 3.64 pitches per batter, and averaged an equally improved 12.75 pitches per inning.

As I always say: once is an event, twice is a coincidence; and three times is a trend.  On that note Noah is now 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA over his last three starts.  He entered the month of May with a 6.35 ERA and has since lowered it to 4.74 upon yielding six earned runs on 17 hits and just three walks, with 21 strikeouts over his last 21 innings pitched.  He tossed a complete game effort on May 2 over the Reds, then turned in another eight inning effort on Tuesday.  In each instance Syndergaard provided the bullpen with much needed relief.  So perhaps Thor is finally on to something significant.

With that in mind, it wasn't too long ago, April 15 in fact, that Syndergaard surrendered five earned runs on nine hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in just five innings against the Phillies.  He faced 25 batters and threw 102 pitches which translates to just over four pitches per batter, and 20.4 pitches per inning.  This was sandwiched between a pair of similar efforts on April 10 against Minnesota, and April 21 at Philadelphia.  But therein lies the extent of this season's rough stretch.

I've never questioned Noah Syndergaard repertoire.  It's his craftsmanship or lack thereof that I wonder about.  But there's no doubt he is pitching more efficiently of late.  Thor has now faced 234 batters this season over the course of 65 innings pitched which averages out to 3.6 batters faced per inning.  Presently sitting at 929 in-game pitches thrown this season he is averaging 14.29 pitches per inning which unlike last season effectually makes him a seven inning pitcher.  That's a full inning better than last season.

Which is to say the more of a craftsman he becomes, the better off he'll be.