Noah Syndergaard Impressive Early In Camp

There's been a lot of hype around spring training this year for the New York Mets, with good reason. A lot of hype has been floating around young phenom Noah Syndergaard, a kid who has a fastball that can max out around 98 and a curveball that can break off a table top. Syndergaard has impressed in his bullpen sessions and an intrasquad game last week, which is really nice to see, showing Mets fans and baseball fans at well, that he's good. But there was no way to tell just how good he was going to be until he faced actual big league pitching. Well we got that question answered yesterday in his spring training debut against the Atlanta Braves.

Syndergaard pitched two scoreless innings in the Mets’ 6-2 victory, fanning two Braves hitters in Jason Heyward and Evan Gattis. The kid allowed one hit, a single by Ryan Doumit, and didn't walk anybody. He was not perfect, but he was brilliant at times. Syndergaard’s first four pitches to Heyward were fastballs: 95 m.p.h., 96, 97 and 97, which is serious gas folks. Syndergaard missed with his changeup and then his fastball, running the count full. Then he fired a 98-m.p.h. heater that Heyward could only flail at. Then fact that he was able to do that is telling me a lot in a short body of work.

First off it tells me that this kid is no joke, he is the real deal and will be as good if not possibly better than advertised. Now it's only in two innings of work early in spring training so its nothing to really get all that hyped up on just yet. I believe that Syndergaard is going to live up to those expectations when he finally does hit the Majors, whenever that may happen. With the Mets starting rotation the way it looks on paper right now, there is a chance he could be up with the big club before the All Star break and stick with them the rest of the year. But that's getting a little ahead of ourselves here.

Lets remember he has only pitched two innings against big league hitting in a game. He had a little trouble getting behind in counts but, as any good pitcher can do, he can work the kinks out of that issue by the time the season kicks off. The way he was throwing the fastball in the first game, it was almost as if he was daring the Braves to try and hit the pitch. It was a hard pitch and Syndergaard didn't have much trouble locating that pitch. He can hit his spots and if given proper time to mature can be a big impact on this Mets ball club.

Will this kid be able to, at 21 years old, pitch in the Big Leagues? That's for Mets management to decide. But when he does come up, and Matt Harvey comes back healthy, the two of them and Zach Wheeler are going to be a force to be reckoned with at the top of the Mets starting rotation.