Position Analysis – SP
Good morning. There are 25 starters on this
list. Yup. Double checked. Still 25.
I’m going to stretch this out by breaking it
into five separate pitchers per post.
So, we start with five guys I feel will start
the season with AAA-Syracuse:
(Oh… missing from this list is someone that
could return to AAA in April. Brandon Sproat. I have him in Queens.
Jonah Tong –
2025 – AA/AAA:
22-ST, 113.2-IP, 179-K, 10-5, 1.43, 0.92,
Mets:
5-ST,
18.2-IP, 22-K, -0.8-WAR, 2-3, 7.71, 1.77-WHIP
You already know everything about this guy…
pitched like Tom Seaver in the minors…
pitched like Tom Brennan in Queens. I
watched him when he hit Citi. I never saw a dear in headlights with a baseball
in his hand before. It was such a shame coming off the 2-ST, 11.2-IP, 17-K, 2-0,
0.00, 0.94 masterpiece he put up in Syracuse prior to being called up. Look, he
may dazzle us all in ST and wind up in the Mets rotation on OD, but I doubt it.
Slow the journey down a little and let him build back his confidence.
Jack Wenninger –
2025
– AA Binghamton: 26-ST, 12-6, 2.92, 1.15, 135.2-IP, 147-K,
42-BB
Every
organization has someone no one talks about. I call it “the quiet one”. Well,
that’s Jack. Question? When was the last time you saw ink on this guy? All you
every ready about is McLean, Tong, and Sproat. Sounds like a law firm
specializing in accident recovery. Well, regular readers here will tell you how
early I began touting Wenninger. 2026 should be the year he stands out in
Syracuse and becomes a true 2027 starter option. I believe he has the potential
to become the Don Drysdale on this team. Oh… youngins… look him up.
R.J. Gordon –
2025
– A+/AA: 26-G, 21-ST, 11-3, 3.36, 1.15,
128-2-IP, 147-K, 46-BB
Another
quiet one. Just goes out there and does hisjob. Went 6-1 for Binghamton. Being
pushed by the 7 qualified starters that are hitting Binghamton this spring, so
look for him at a Cuse team near you.
Joander
Suarez –
2025
– AA/AAA: 23-G, 18-ST, 6-4, 3.76, 1.05, 93.1-IP, 93-K, 17-BB
Suarez
is targets as opening the season as the Syracuse SP-5. His challange is to fight
off Binghamton starters when they begin to open the clubhouse door. Not sure he
will be able to do that.
Jonathan
Pintaro –
2025
– Mets: -0.1-WAR, 0-0, 27.00-ERA
AAA: 17-G, 5-ST, 2-3, 5.22, 1.66, 39.2-IP, 46-K, 29-BB
Super
K/9 stuff… not much else. Pintaro looks to be starter filler starting off this
season, and I might be wrong at that. If the Mets decide to either start
Brandon Sproat here, or bump up one of the seven projected Binghamton starters,
Pintaro will be pen bound in the spring.
21 comments:
I was a dominant stickball pitcher in Braddock Park in Bellerose Queens, quite possibly before Jonah Tong's parents were born. And I hit like Ohtani. Those Pennsy Pinkies were flying a long, long way when I swung.
I was a Spaulding boy myself
Suarez is going to the bullpen. Santucci and Thornton are next in line.
Definitely Spalding. I myself was the Babe Ruth of stickball as the only kid who could clear the monster tree located in the middle of the block
Love all the positive write ups about Tong, but he needs to develop a third pitch. In the minors, his delivery shocks hitters. In the majors, I don’t know about that. While he can be the next Edwin Diaz, that max’s out at 3 WAR. He’d prefer to be 4 or 5.
And we used the blue balls. Tougher that Spaldings (that cracked easily) and not as bouncy as the pink ones.
Home run hitter from left side. Stan The Man stance
Punch hitter from right
No
You HAVE blue balls
I expected someone to stoop down…
I'm having a ball reading these comments. The article was a good one, too!
Used to play a lot of punch ball with the pink Spalding. Some guys could hit the ball two sewers, not me and my skinny ass.
Mack, you beat me to the blue balls comment.
Rd, I also played 2 box baseball...anyone remember that. You had a pitcher and 1 fielder. I used to be able to put amazing English on the Spalding when I pitched.
For me in Brooklyn it was a spall-deeen and a broom handle and because I had a park across the street I had a cement wall to throw against I just needed chalk for the strike zone. I had a killer fastball and now a hundred years later I need to replace my right shoulder I'm just glad it's possible today.
I used to also place black ball on the courts on Atlantic Avenue and 106th Street
Still there
I know your wife
She Saud you never had a "killer fastball "
Said
About Tong. The Mets called up a 24 year old promising lefty at the end of the 1967 season. In 22.1 innings he went 0-2 and had a 6.04 ERA. They didn't give up on him and the next year he went 19-12 with a 2.08 ERA. His name was Jerry Koosman. The point, of course, is don't sell Tong short based upon his 18.2 innings of unimpressive pitching during his short cup of coffee in 2025.
Interesting, I played my ball at the Oval in Glen Oaks
Those of us who are skeptical about Tong's readiness are not basing it on his performance after the call-up. Hell, the guy had thrown more innings in the year than most of the Mets starters had. I believe I pointed out several weeks ago and others have chimed in since that he needs an east-west pitch. Without it you are basically attacking hitters only alone one plane. As someone with enough knowledge of biomechanics to be dangerous to myself and others (mostly drawn from golf experience and coaching), I am worried about the manner in which he creates his over the top delivery motion. Relative to his body (not the ground) his arm positioning is very much traditional 3/4 delivery; in other words, he isn't actually raising his directly above his shoulder. Instead he tilts his spine into left lateral bend (think left side or front side crunch) This bends the spine. There are lots of issues with this kind of motion, especially if it is excessive. One is that it is bad for the spine, especially under the stress of throwing a baseball at high speeds. It invites debilitating injuries. From a baseball mechanics point of view, it is also problematic because it limits rotation and the ability to increase arm speed through rotation/torque. It is MUCH easier and considerably safer to rotate with a level pelvis and a straight spine. People with true over the top deliveries run certain kinds of injury risks as well and it's one good reason why we don't see pitchers adopting such an approach more often. Tong's approach creates a similar release point in space overall but achieves by a safer arm to body relationship in favor of a much more dangerous spine bend (not tilt) i.e. tilting is typically from the hips and is compatible with maintaining a straight spine, but that's not what Tong does. And it's not really what golfers do, though many commentators invariably run tilting together with side bending, though they are different motions and are initiated differently. So I'm worried about Tong's long term health, his ability to develop an east-west pitch with sufficient movement from his release point, and therefore his repetoire in a SP role.
I love the stickball discussion and the allusions to box baseball and punch ball. how about stoop ball and johnny on the pony. Next thing we will discuss no doubt will be games built around bottle caps. We were so lucky as kids being forced to become creative with commonly found and inexpensive tools and 'equipment'. And we still found time to do our homework and write a well formed sentence. Geez, I feel bad (really) for all the privileged kids today who are either stuck in the house with an Xbox or its equivalent or are being driven by their parents to one heavily curated after school activity to another. All so that they can improve their chances of going to a college that they can't afford, and which is not likely able to teach them half the street skills we learned navigating our way through adolescence.
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