David Stearns had to state the obvious in discussing the Mets’ decision to promote 22-year-old Jonah Tong for his MLB debut just two weeks after promoting him to Triple-A.
“This is fast, there’s no question, this is fast,” the Mets’ president of baseball operations said Tuesday.
“He’s pushed us on this because of his performance,” Stearns continued. “We think he’s ready for this. We also acknowledged that this has gone faster than any of us would have anticipated at the start of this year.”
Across 22 minor league starts, Tong has pitched to a 1.43 ERA and 0.924 WHIP, surrendering just 20 runs (18 earned) on 58 hits and 47 walks over 113.2 innings while striking out 179 batters. A 14.2 strikeout per nine-inning rate. Now, he is expected to make his next start Friday night in Queens against the Miami Marlins.
And it speaks to how highly the Mets organization thinks of the young right-hander that the rationale is just this: In a tight wild card race, you need to have your best players on the roster at the business end of the season.
“As you roll into the last month of the season, you want to have the best roster you possibly can,” Stearns said. “And we think Jonah has the chance to be among that. He’s earned the opportunity. And so we’re gonna give him the start and look forward to seeing how it goes.”
In his two outings with Syracuse, he tallied 39 whiffs on 91 swings (43 percent) with a 39 percent called strike-whiff rate.
So how did the Mets end up here, with Tong going from pitching in the MLB Futures Game while at Double-A to getting promoted twice in the span of 45 days?
“Combination of where a player is development-wise and then opportunity,” Stearns said. "And this went fast for Jonah. But to his credit, he really conquered everything we put in front of him. He exceeded our expectations throughout this year, and he put himself in a position where he deserved to be considered for a day like this.”
On the first part, the development of the right-hander’s stuff this season has been something that has left the team pleasantly surprised and quite excited.
“He’s obviously got the fastball that plays, and that’s been his calling card throughout his time in the minor leagues,” Stearns said of the heater, which averages around 96 mph and touched 98 mph at Triple-A. “What’s impressed us the most is the speed with which he’s expanded his arsenal in a really effective way. He’s added a changeup this year that’s been really good.
“And we’ve seen outings that have shown tremendous maturity on the mound where something’s not working and he’s able to switch an approach, go to the slider more, throw a few more curveballs. And allow himself to get through outings really successfully even if he’s not following the exact plan that he thought he was gonna follow when he went into the game.”
Stearns pointed to Tong’s two Triple-A outings in which he's pitched 11.2 scoreless innings, allowing eight hits and three walks with 17 strikeouts. “He’s had success in two straight starts in different ways, and that’s encouraging to see,” he said.
But in order to get that chance, opportunity must knock. And Stearns first laid out the possibility of giving some of the club’s top minor league arm talent opportunities down the stretch after the All-Star break, but it was seen thatNolan McLean and Brandon Sporat were the most likely candidates, as both had Triple-A experience and were seen as closer to being big league ready. McLean, who was called up on August 16 for his MLB debut, has made two fine starts and seems to have found himself as the Mets’ fifth starter. With New York looking for a sixth man, which should be a boost for Kodai Senga and Clay Holmes, coupled with Tong’s domination at Syracuse, the decision seemed to be made for them.
“Then ultimately, as we got into planning this week and planning the next series out, it lined up well for him,” Stearns said. “He’s gonna be on normal term, he’s throwing the ball well in two starts in Triple-A, and we’re comfortable giving him the ball.”
And, like with McLean, the Mets are going to go “turn by turn” with the rotation for the time being.
“It’s gonna be a combination of what the matchups are, who we think matchup well, how are guys are throwing, who we think needs rest, who doesn’t need rest,” Stearns said. “I think in September, we try not to plan too far ahead.”
