After being catapulted through the minor leagues, Mets’ hotshot pitching prospect Jonah Tong will make his major-league debut against the Marlins Friday, just three years after being selected in the seventh round of the draft, manager Carlos Mendoza announced.
The Canadian righthander, 22, was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse two weeks ago and made just two starts there before earning a spot on the Mets. He pitched 11 2/3 scoreless innings with the Syracuse Mets, allowing eight hits with three walks and 17 strikeouts. In 22 games between Double- and Triple-A this year, he’s 10-5 with a 1.43 ERA and averaged 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
“He earned it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday. “I’m excited and we’re all excited…He dominated in the minor leagues and, when you keep getting those types of performances, it’s hard to ignore.”
Tong, the organization’s No. 3 prospect, has a Tim Lincecum-style over-the-top delivery that induces a ton of movement on his mid-90s fastball, averaging more than 20 inches of induced vertical break, according to Baseball America. He has a plus-curveball, and has introduced a slider and changeup, the latter of which showed significant progress, president of baseball operations David Stearns said Tuesday.
“He really conquered everything we put in front of him,” Stearns said. “We’ve seen outings that show tremendous maturity on the mound where, if something is not working, he’s then able to switch approach and 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 going to follow when he went into the game. I think he’s done that in Triple-A in both starts. He’s had success in two straight starts in different ways, and that’s encouraging to see.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.