New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard has had a very good season. He’s pitched well enough that he’s in the conversation for the Cy Young Award in the National League.
Syndergaard, 24, is now in his second season in the big leagues. During his rookie season, he went 9-7 with a 3.24 ERA. He also made three starts in the 2015 postseason, including one in the World Series. It was certainly an impressive rookie year.
He’s taken his game to the next level this season. On Tuesday night against the Washington Nationals, Syndergaard went seven innings and allowed just one earned run on four hits while recording 10 strikeouts. He picked up a no-decision in the game however, and the Mets went on to win the game 4-3 in 10 innings.
Syndergaard lowered his ERA to 2.43 on the season after Tuesday’s start. Because of the no-decision, his record remained 13-8. The 10 strikeouts he had in the game put him over 200 for the season. His 205 strikeouts are fourth-most among National League pitchers. Only Madison Bumgarner, Jose Fernandez, and Max Scherzer have more. Syndergaard’s ERA is lower than all three of those starters.The only starting pitchers in the NL that have a better ERA than Syndergaard are Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester, both of the Chicago Cubs. Hendricks owns the lowest ERA in the NL at 2.03.
The one major category where Syndergaard is not up there with the rest of the top pitchers in the NL is WHIP. His WHIP is at 1.12. Ten other starters in the NL lead him in this stat. Max Scherzer has the lowest WHIP in the league at 0.92. He also leads Syndergaard in wins, but that particular stat isn’t as important as it once was in determining the Cy Young winner.
Syndergaard has definitely been the Mets’ most valuable starting pitcher this season. Matt Harvey needed to have season-ending shoulder surgery back in June. He was the Opening Day starter for the Mets. Jacob deGrom has had a good season, but is currently battling through forearm soreness. It’s unclear right now when exactly he’ll be ready to return to the rotation. Lefty Steven Matz has been out since August 22 because of a shoulder injury. Out of the five starters that the Mets had in the rotation to start the year, only Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon have managed to not miss any significant time throughout the entire season. Colon has been solid thus far, but he hasn’t quite put up the numbers that Syndergaard has.
Noah Syndergaard has a legitimate chance to win the NL Cy Young Award. Especially considering how well he’s pitched of late, his case is indeed a solid one. He’s competing with some good pitchers, including Kyle Hendricks, Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, Jake Arrieta, Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto. It’s going to be a close race. Once the season ends, we’ll find out who ends up on top.
