New York Mets: 3 realistic goals for Noah Syndergaard in 2019

225 K’s

The best thing to watch about Noah Syndergaard is his power.

The guy is huge so he can put the ball wherever he wants it when he is on. He has so many great pitchers and can get the ball across the plate beautifully.

We have seen it for years now with him.

Not only is he really clutch, he’s been clutch in the postseason in his career (2-1 record), he often gets outs the hard way. The strikeouts.

Last season, Thor struck out 155 batters. Well off where I want him to be in 2019, but again consistently being out there will up that.

His career high in strikeouts, yep, you guessed it, happened in 2016 when he had 2018.

So, yes, 225 strikeouts might be a bit of a stretch at this point but he has to improve something about his game in order for him to get better as his career goes on, so why not striking out more players.

The problem with Syndergaard is that he has all the stuff. He is a freak of nature and can be great. He is just not that consistent.

He is a great thrower, but not yet a great pitcher.

What he needs to learn how to do is use his stuff more. Use his size and be smarter with his pitches.

He gets the run support, he had double-digit wins again, so he needs to up the strikeouts.

If Syndergaard could throw 225 K’s, that will likely be solid enough to be top 10 in the league next season.

It would have put him at the eight most K’s in 2018, had he thrown 225.

While Syndergaard’s strikeout numbers are not bad, per se, that is what I would like to see him do more in 2019. Where is game could improve the most.

225 is a lot, but the Mets and their players should be trying to challenge themselves and become a better starting unit.

Jacob deGrom had 30 more strikeouts last season than he did in any year in his career and he won the Cy Young as a result of that.

While Thor is no deGrom, with the same coaching, and again, staying healthy, there is no reason why Syndergaard can’t do the same.

If he ups those strikeouts, which is the best out in baseball, then he will be an elite pitcher. The rest takes care of itself.

225 strikeouts would be a fantastic season for Syndergaard so that is what he should aim for. Of course, the more the merrier.

Noah Syndergaard continues to be a huge draw for the Mets. His Thor persona is larger than life. All he needs to do is continue to be a great pitcher. He is still about to hit the prime of his career.

Noah Syndergaard could set new career highs in just about every positive category in 2019.

By fulfilling these three goals, Syndergaard would be able to call 2019 his career year to date. The Mets would be a better team because of it too.