Ron Darling on Syndergaard: He looks like Nolan Ryan

[Giantmetfan07]

 

PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Howard went to the plate Monday with maybe the only sensible plan for facing a pitcher with Noah Syndergaard’s arsenal.
 
The Phillies first baseman would hunt for a fastball in his first at-bat and just hope to receive one he could handle. Howard found a fastball — registering 99 mph — and singled through the middle for one of the Phillies’ five hits against the Mets’ stud righty over seven innings.
 
“Pick something out, because all of his pitches are dominant,” Howard said before his Phillies were blown out 11-1 by the Mets on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park. “I picked out the fastball, just try to get in there and see something good and luckily I was able to get a good pitch to handle and poke it through.”
 
Syndergaard’s stuff is the most electric in baseball, accompanied by mind-numbing radar readings. On Monday, he threw 12 pitches that were at least 100 mph, running his total to 14 for the season. Only six other pitches in MLB this season have hit 100 mph, according to the website baseballsavant.com. The Pirates’ Arquimedes Caminero has thrown four of those pitches and the Yankees’ Nathan Eovaldi the other two.
 
But Syndergaard’s fastball (98.4 mph average, tops in the majors) has been just part of the story: The average velocity on his slider (92.3 mph) and changeup (90.0 mph) are also tops in the majors, according to MLB Statcast. Syndergaard also throws a sharp curveball that is hell on hitters.
 
It was a curveball that left catcher Kevin Plawecki with a souvenir. Plawecki blocked a Syndergaard curve that had bounced in the dirt and was left branded on his chest by the cross necklace he wore.
 
Aside from his impressive radar readings, Syndergaard is 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in his first three starts this season. Syndergaard has struck out 29 batters and walked just four in 20 innings.
 

“He’s got the belief that he’s going to go out there, it’s not to pitch well, it’s not to win, it’s to dominate,” said former Mets pitcher Ron Darling, a team broadcaster for SNY. “And you can see it from the first pitch he throws, body language, how he conducts himself. It’s remarkable what he has done in the last year.”
 
Darling cited Nolan Ryan as maybe the only pitcher of his lifetime who compares to Syndergaard in terms of stuff.
 
“He looks like Nolan Ryan,” Darling said. “He walks like him. He acts like him, throws like him. He just has better control than Nolan had at that age. From my seat I’m having a hard time finding the words describing what he is doing.”

 
 

 

 

[cruzg24]

Hes the real ace of the staff, I love how every year it looks like its someone else lol