Noah Syndergaard’s troubled relationship with the New York Mets continued to be an issue after the team refused to pair him with one of his preferred catchers for Sunday’s start.
According to Joel Sherman and Kevin Kernan of the New York Post, Syndergaard confronted Mets manager Mickey Callaway after the pitcher was lined up with catcher Wilson Ramos for Sunday’s start. Syndergaard prefers throwing to backups Rene Rivera or Thomas Nido, who he believes are better at calling games, framing pitches, and controlling the run game.
This culminated in a sit-down meeting with GM Brodie Van Wagenen, but Syndergaard did not get the response he wanted. Van Wagenen is invested in Ramos as his catcher and believes the dynamic between pitcher and catcher is overrated, despite the fact that he advised Jacob deGrom to demand to pitch to catcher Devin Mesoraco when the GM was deGrom’s agent.
The report categorized Syndergaard as “livid” that he was ultimately asked to throw to Ramos on Sunday. Syndergaard struggled in that start, giving up four runs in five innings. Ramos, meanwhile, homered and drove in three runs.
The numbers bear out that Syndergaard throws better to Rivera and Nido. In 15 games throwing to Ramos, his ERA is 5.09. In 10 games throwing to Nido, it’s 2.45, and he threw seven shutout innings during his one start paired with Rivera in 2019.
Syndergaard has grown frustrated with the Mets over this issue, which he feels goes against a player-first mentality that Van Wagenen pledged to implement. He also remains unhappy that the Mets floated him on the trade market in July.
Syndergaard made light of those trade rumors in July, but they ultimately seemed to fuel increasing disillusionment with the organization. He’s likely to be shopped again this winter, at which point he’ll have two years of team control remaining.
