REMEMBER JONAH TONG SMILING AFTER GATORADE LAST YEAR?
You know the way some folks go to a psychiatrist for some minor concerns and come out like raving lunatics?
Or the guy that goes into the hospital to get his tonsils removed, gets C-Dif, and gets a leg amputated before he goes home.
That’s about the result of the treatment from Mets experts for Jonah Tong.
In 2025, Tong was MINOR LEAGUES PITCHER OF THE YEAR. Incredible!
He did that while just turning 22 in June 2025.
MLB.com wrote this:
“…nobody was more unhittable than Jonah Tong, who lapped the field by putting up videogame numbers before his Aug. 29 MLB debut. Tong led the Minors in ERA (1.43), strikeouts (179) and average-against (1.48) while ranking second in WHIP (0.92) as he morphed into MiLB's much-watch hurler over a string of ascendant performances.
“He allowed one earned run or fewer in 18 of his 22 starts, two or fewer hits in eight of his first 13, and no hits at all in two, compiling 24 strikeouts over the course of those 11 2/3 combined no-hit frames.”
Back to me:
He allowed 2 HRs in 114 minor league IP in 2025. One every 57 innings.
Then, he got called up to the big leagues, in a Mets pitching emergency at year end 2025, despite limited experience, with just a few AAA outings. Against much better MLB hitting, he pitched reasonably well in 3 Mets outings and poorly in 2 others. No surprise.
The Mets, however, looked at that big picture of Tong in 2025 and seemingly decided, “we must ignore his incredible minor league success in 2025 and COMPLETELY FIX HIM!”
They did change things, all right.
In AAA this year, 20 HRs in 86 innings.
One every 4 innings. 14 times the 2025 rate.
A 2026 ERA of 5.46, as compared to last year’s 1.43. Quadrupled.
His 2025 WHIP of 0.92 has jumped 59% to 1.46 this year.
Heckuva “fix”, wouldn’t you say?
Maybe they “fixed” Ryan Lambert and Dylan Ross equally well this year, too. Expertly repaired Ryan Clifford?
SOLUTION?
We need a SWAT team to show up at each Mets minor league location with a bullhorn and say:
“PUT YOU I PADS ON THE GROUND. STEP AWAY FROM THE PROSPECTS”!
Somehow, I think Jonah Tong’s stats would be far better if they just left him the heck alone.
I WANT MY TONG TERRIFIC BACK!
IMAGINE THIS TEAM’S OFFENSE…
If Soto was playing, rather than Bumbling Brett Baty?
It would be TOUGH.
JEFRY YAN…
…is surely a feel-good story.
But he sure seems to bounce a lot of sliders in the dirt. I hope he cuts those down. If he does, I will be jumping up and down.
Yan’s sliders must be high enough to 1) induce swings & 2) avoid wild pitches. He threw 12 wild pitches in 41.2 AAA IP, a really high rate.
6 comments:
Re: Yan
Imagine if pitchers still had to hit and this guy had to set in?
Tell ya what... he's still may not avoid a punch in the face id he pulls those antics at home plate again...
Re: Tong
I'm going to wait until Jules turns on his computer and then, I'm going to let him explain how the nurds pissed in his beer this season...
Me?
He's my 2027 CL
He looks physically like someone you would not want to tangle with…but he is going to attract the opposition attention. For sure.
While I think it is not quite so simple as just this, DeMayo blames Tong issues on this: “ After putting up video game numbers in 2025, Tong entered 2026 looking to expand his repertoire to find a trustworthy pitch that moves glove side, focusing on different variations of a cutter and a slider.
Early on, it seemed Tong was willing to sacrifice results to just pepper the cutter to try to make it a proper offering, and he's thrown it 20 percent of the time this season. It's fair to say that the pitch has been inconsistent this season, where some starts it looked good and others it isn’t quite there.”
So…Tong needs to cut the use of the cutter in half or more, and get up here to replace the guy who robbed our Stock.
Cue Jules...
Post a Comment