Virtually no one would have put their money on Noah
Syndegaard to be the last ace standing out of the New York Mets rotation in
2016. It was in fact Syndegaard who was
the only member of the vaunted “Big Five” of Jacob DeGrom, Matt Harvey, Steven
Matz, and Zach Wheeler, who wound up pitching through the season. The reason many would doubt Syndegaard’s
health is for the fact that if you were to draw up what a classic Tommy John
elbow victim would like it, Thor would be it.
Syndegaard checks all the red flag boxes such as being under the age of
27, having the ability to throw extremely hard (average fastball velocity of
98), and for taking a jump in innings from one year to the next. While Syndegaard did have a few scares along
the way (and developed a bone spur that did not require removal), he was able
to throw 183.2 innings in the regular season, while posting ace numbers. Syndegaard is about as pure a power pitcher
as you can get as his 10.68 K/9 rate and 218 strikeouts could attest. Posting a dominant 2.60 ERA, Syndegaard is
also the extremely rare young flamethrower who possesses excellent control
(2.11 BB/9). That makes it virtually
impossible for opposing hitters to get much to hit off of Syndegaard and again
only health can derail him. As we look
toward 2017, Syndegaard is an easy top ten fantasy baseball ace but his health
is an issue that won’t go away. When you
make an investment in Syndegaard, you are clearly crossing your fingers and
hoping things don’t go wrong with his health.
Let’s see how lucky you are.
2017
PROJECTION: 16-8 2.52 ERA 1.14 WHIP 223
K
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