There's plenty of good news in the Mets' farm system these days but outside of the return of Dilson Herrera tonight, the best might be that two of its top talents had outstanding starts over the past week. Pitchers Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard, both pitching for Triple-A Las Vegas, landed on Baseball America's prospect hot sheet for their performances.
Ranking at #4 on the list, the lefty Matz was untouchable in his two starts for the 51s. In 14 innings combined, the Long Island native allowed just a run on 7 hits, while racking up 17 strikeouts compared to only 3 walks. His 1.84 ERA over 5 appearances this season in the heavy hitting Pacific Coast League seems almost unfathomable, as does the .184 opponents' batting average. The most important item included, however, was this nugget found within the writeup:
Matz has always had great stuff but if it's true that he's sitting mid-90's and touching 99 MPH with his fastball, look out, National League.
Meanwhile, the Mets' top prospect Noah Syndergaard appears to be back on track after an elbow scare near the end of spring training set the hulking righty back a bit. In his lone start this past week, Thor may have tossed the best game of his burgeoning career as he threw a 7 inning complete game shutout in the opener of a doubleheader, allowing just a pair of hits and striking out 9 batters in the process. For his efforts, Syndergaard checked in at #12 on the hot sheet.
With these two pitchers throwing well in a brutal Triple-A environment and knocking loudly at the door to the big leagues, the Mets may have some decisions to make with their rotation in the very near future.