PORT ST. LUCIE — Does anyone else crush arrivals like Noah Syndergaard? The guy whose first career World Series pitch sailed high and inside past Alcides Escobar all the way to the Citi Field backstop?
On Sunday, ready to start his second full big league season, the Mets’ blond giant went to Twitter and declared, “Hello Florida….I’m back,” with a clip of his cinematic doppelganger Thor leaping and smashing his trademark hammer to the ground.
Love it. Now arrives the next step for the Mets’ ace of the moment: Having earned his team’s 2017 Opening Day start, can he stay atop the hill that has proven so slippery in the Sandy Alderson/Terry Collins era?
“I really wouldn’t say I was the leader of this staff,” Syndergaard said Sunday at Tradition Field, as the Mets’ pitchers and catchers reported. “We’re all leaders in our own way. We’re all pulling for one another. We’re all out there supporting. It’s like a brotherhood within a team. It’s really something cool to be a part of, and really special.
“But as far as Terry mentioning that, it’s just a huge honor to me. I’m ready to answer the call.”
Hello Florida….I'm back. pic.twitter.com/kpuJnuxGCO
On Jan. 30, Collins told The Post’s Kevin Kernan he intended to start Syndergaard in the Mets’ April 3 opener against the Braves at home. Virtually every decision Collins makes going forward will be harder than this one. Of the Mets’ veteran starting pitchers, only Syndergaard finished the 2016 season healthy, starting the team’s NL wild-card game against the Giants that Jeurys Familia lost in the ninth inning. He put up a superb 2.60 ERA as he struck out 218 and walked 43 in 183 ²/₃ innings.
What’s hard is the challenge Syndergaard faces in retaining this honor. For this will be Collins’ seventh season leading the Mets, and Syndergaard, as long as he stays healthy in spring training, will be the manager’s seventh Opening Day starter.
(Want to test your memories, Mets fans? Spoiler alert: Starting in 2011, Collins has granted this privilege to Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee, Bartolo Colon, Matt Harvey and now Syndergaard.)
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Transformed Syndergaard is here with threats: I can throw harder 0:0 PORT ST. LUCIE — Bill Gates could use a few… You’d bet on Syndergaard more than any of his predecessors on this list because he possesses the highest upside and the most durability. Nevertheless, these Mets have learned all too well the perils of pitching, let alone pitching with the sort of force that Syndergaard deploys; he led the majors in average fastball velocity (98 miles per hour) and slider velocity (90.9 mph), according to FanGraphs.
“I always want to throw harder and continue to make the game easier,” said Syndergaard, who pointed out how his velocity rose from 2015 (97.1 mph on his fastball and 87.9 mph on his slider) to 2016. He took up a new training regimen over the winter and, on the diet front, spoke lovingly of a dish featuring buffalo, venison, avocado and scrambled eggs.
He also spoke of the bone spur in his right elbow that the Mets’ doctors opted not to surgically remove. Rare, for sure, is the pitcher who cruises through a season without a speed bump of any sort. While Syndergaard, at 24, will try to pull off that feat, we shan’t be surprise if he can’t.
The Mets hope, too, an internal competition will arise, and one different than last year’s “Survivor” tribute. Syndergaard’s rotation mates Jacob deGrom, Harvey, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler all have the upside to be major league aces. If Syndergaard duplicates his 2016 output and most of the other guys stay healthy and produce, the Mets should be far better than last year’s bubble team.
“Whatever the team needs, I’m here to fulfill that job,” Syndergaard said. “If that’s to be Opening Day starter, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
That’s where he’ll begin his 2017 journey. If he can conclude it having earned the 2018 assignment, ending the Mets’ mini-curse, then baseball’s Thor will have soared to even rarer air.
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