MACK - JONAH TONG

 

Morning.

Mrs. Mack had a 1pm appointment with her dentist yesterday. People our age who are married for 55 years never travel alone.  Who would call 911 if the other went down?

No problem. I have DISH TV and could tape the game.

Now my only challenge is stay off my phone so I don't get ambushed with real time Tong poop.

I eventually got home and watched all five innings that Jonah Tong tossed. I walked away with the following observations,  conclusions, and thoughts:

.

1. Everything negative about his fastball in his past outing was a positive here. It was consistently sharp and in the zone, rather than reduced to a secondary pitch due to its ineffectiveness.  He used it as his primary pitch, mixing in his curve. It was responsible for the majority of strikeouts as well.

2. Either he or Luis Torrens recognized early that the home plate ump was giving him the inside portion of the zone when pitching to lefthanded hitters. Tong then pitched to that point over and over with remarkable accuracy for a rookie in a critical end of the season game.  You usually only see this from top, seasoned veterans. 

3. 59 of Tong’s 82 pitches were strikes. So why was his pitch count so high after five innings? Simply put, there were too many balls fouled off by Padres batters. My guess is Tong’s pitch angle at the bat was highly affected by both his unique delivery plus spin, causing for a much more difficult time for batters to barrel up. Remember... most of the past home runs he had given up were by poorly thrown fastballs. Yesterday's sharply positioned heaters were mixed very perfectly with his secondary pitches (especially his curve), but they did cause an increased percentage of foul balls, upping the pitch count. His delivery angle may continue to produce this kind of pitch count and his target might be adjusted to six innings for the remainder of the regular season.

Overall, it was an A performance. 

I believe that there is a chance that you are watching the development of the most exciting Mets pitcher since Jake deGrom.

I really do.

And... going forward... I believe the Mets have three young starters to begin the creation of one of the most exciting rotations in baseball.

And again... I really do.

Thomas Nestico                                @TJStats

Jonah Tong dominated the Padres today with 8 K over 5 shutout innings

He issued 0 BB as his high-riding fastball was electric returning an elite 33.3 Whiff%

 

Pitch Profiler                                     @pitchprofiler

Jonah Tong mixed in more curveballs, and it resulted in a much better start this afternoon!

 

The Athletic’s Minor League awards

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6634835/2025/09/18/minor-league-year-end-awards-2025-konnor-griffin/

Pitcher of the year

Jonah Tong, RHP, New York Mets

Tong led the minor leagues in strikeouts this year with 179 in just 113 2/3 innings. To put that in context, 135 pitchers threw more innings in the minors than Tong did this year, but he struck out more than any of them. He allowed just two homers in those 113 2/3 innings, one of the best rates in the minors; although, if you’re wondering how predictive that is, he allowed three in his first 11 2/3 innings in the majors.

Tong finds success with an unusual delivery that makes his fastball hard for hitters to square up, and he pairs it with a changeup that generated a whiff rate just over 50 percent in the minors this season. He leads a trio of Mets starter prospects, along with Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean, none of whom were first-rounders and all of whom improved markedly once they got into the Mets’ player development system.

Jonah Tong's eye-opening start against Padres gives Mets lots to think about

https://sny.tv/articles/jonah-tong-eye-opening-start-mets-9-18-25?s=03

Tong's biggest weapon on Thursday -- as will be the case most of the time -- was his four-seam fastball.

The fastball was sitting around 93-94 mph at the start of Tong's outing, but he reached back for more as the game went on, regularly hitting 95 mph and topping out at 96 as he induced plenty of swings and misses up in the zone.

That ability to use the fastball to miss bats -- while mixing in his changeup, curve, and slider -- is what made Tong such a monster this season as he tore through the minors while striking out an eye-popping 179 batters in 113.2 innings.

If Tong is able to unleash that version of himself this season in the majors, or simply come close to it, he has to be in consideration to be one of the Mets' starting pitchers should they reach the three-game Wild Card Series. Or to at the very least be included on the staff in some way.