Is Thor's Hype Real?

There's no denying the fact that Noah Syndergaard is one of the best pitchers in baseball. The New York Mets felt they might be getting something good in him when they sent Cy Young winner R.A Dickey to Toronto in the winter of 2012 (along with Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas) in exchange for Travis d'Arnaud, John Buck, Noah Syndergaard and Wuilmer Becerra. Thor has been the real bright spot of the trade since it was completed. Now, some concerns have come out about the man they call Thor. And its coming from people in his own organization.

The other day. Mets pitching coach Dave Eiland went to the press with some concerns over Syndergaard.

"I just don't know where the expectations came from," Eiland told the New York Post. "He's spent -- what? -- two-and-a-half years in the big leagues? So I don't know where all the expectations came from. I wasn't here for all that, but he has yet to do a whole lot at the major league level." Eiland backtracked a little before Noah's start on Tuesday by saying "I don't say anything publicly before I say it to them first. ... I didn't say he hasn't done anything. I said he hasn't done a whole lot."

Look at things going on this year. The best pitcher in New York isn't coming from Queens, its coming from the Bronx. Louis Severino has been the best pitcher in the Metro area. Thor may not even be the best pitcher on the current staff, I think that title goes to Jacob deGrom. There's no denying the fact that Thor can dominate a game at times. He's one of those pitchers who has no problem blowing people away with a fastball. At times that has been good enough to get him wins. BUt at times it hasn't. Sure he got the win over the Jays on Tuesday night, only giving up two runs. But he threw 103 pitches and went only five innings.

In 70 career starts, including nine he's made this year, Thor has never pitched a complete game and never pitched a shutout. This was a guy who was an All Star in 2016. Look at some of the other guys in the league who had big hype around them coming up. Guys like Max Scherzer, Corey Kluber, and Chris Sale. They all had hype around them just like Syndergaard, and they've been able to more then live up to it. Noah hasn't quite done that yet.

Don't read into this as there's something wrong with Thor, because there isn't. It's just that Dave Eiland has a point. Maybe this was done as a motivational tool. I love Syndergaard as a pitcher I really do, and I'm not just saying that as a Mets fan. The guy is a lot of fun to watch. It's entertaining to see guys blow away hitters with straight up with gas hitting triple digits on the radar guns. At the same time there's more to it when it comes to pitching then straight gas, at least for starters.

Look at a guy like Bartolo Colon He couldn't hit anywhere near what Noah does on the radar gun, but he's ablew to get a lot of swings and misses and he was and is able to go deep into baseball games, something which Noah hasn't REALLY been able to do to this point in his career. I love Syndergaard I really do. I just want to see him take his game to the next level and really take off as a Major League pitcher. He has the tools, and an intimidation factor that only so few players have been able to get to. He just doesn't have the mental side nailed down yet. Sure there's a lot of room for improvement and there's no real telling how far this kid can go in the Majors. He just has to find a way to bring it all together, and maybe these comments from his pitching coach can help get him going in that right direction.