The effort to increase his pitch mix continued Wednesday against the Cardinals, as the 22-year-old flashed the cutter he\u2019s been working on this spring.<\/p>\n
There were some good ones \u2014 although the final cutter Tong threw versus St. Louis was crushed by Nolan Gorman, who hit an opposite-field three-run homer to left in the top of the third.<\/p>\n
That came after two scoreless innings in a 6-0 loss to the Cardinals at Clover Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last one got hit a little bit, but I\u2019m happy with how things are progressing,\u201d Tong said of the pitch. \u201cThe value of reps like this today [in a game] are the most important thing going forward. I think I\u2019m in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike late last season, the Mets don\u2019t expect to need Tong in Queens when the regular season gets underway next month.<\/p>\n
![\"Jonah](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jonah-Tong.jpg\")
Jonah Tong delivers a pitch during the Mets\u2019 6-0 spring training loss to the Cardinals on Feb. 25, 2026. Corey Sipkin for New York Post<\/p>\n
Instead, he should get more seasoning with Triple-A Syracuse, where Tong made just two starts following his promotion from Double-A Binghamton prior to his callup by the Mets for his final five outings of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we all know what to expect from Nolan McLean,\u201d said one National League scout who watched Tong on Wednesday and saw him in the majors during the final month of last season. \u201cThis guy is different. He has such a unique delivery and his stuff is just different. That\u2019s a good thing and something that you have to keep an eye on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of the high angle Tong uses in his delivery, the scout noted, it might be more difficult to make in-game adjustments and the emergence of pitches like the cutter he\u2019s refining this spring is especially important.<\/p>\n
![\"Jonah](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Jonah-Tong-2.jpg\")
Jonah Tong throws a pitch during his outing in the Mets\u2019 spring training loss to the Cardinals on Feb. 25, 2026. Corey Sipkin for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI think those ups and downs he had when he got called up last year [were] kind of to be expected,\u201d the scout said. \u201cThe highs can be really high, but the lows can be tough. He\u2019s a serious kid, though, so with that stuff and his mindset, I think he\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mets are counting on it.<\/p>\n
If McLean, as expected, breaks spring in a six-man rotation, Tong will be the organization\u2019s top pitching prospect.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
They sent Brandon Sproat to Milwaukee in the trade that brought Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers to Queens, so Tong and Christian Scott could be two promising arms to begin the season at Syracuse, with Peralta, McLean, Sean Manaea, David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga in the six-man rotation and Myers perhaps in the bullpen.<\/p>\n
That gives Tong more time to hone his pitches and Carlos Mendoza called Wednesday \u201ca good learning [and] development experience\u201d for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not a fastball-changeup pitcher anymore,\u201d the manager said. \u201cThere are other weapons he can use.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Wherever Tong winds up, he\u2019s hoping for a smoother ride in 2026.<\/p>\n
Asked what he picked up from his brief stint in the majors for that final month in 2025, the right-hander smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaseball is a complicated game,\u201d Tong said. \u201cIt\u2019s my favorite, obviously, [but] it can be a roller coaster. I want to be able to learn from last year and roll along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 Jonah Tong was forced to the majors last season, the result of not just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,12950,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-593331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-jonah-tong","10":"tag-mets","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-mets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkmets","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116134887577770234","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}