•  

• Syndergaard spent the early part of his childhood playing soccer, and initially didn't want to give baseball a shot.

  It was only at the encouragement of his family that Syndergaard picked up a baseball and started the very early steps of what could eventually become a promising future in the Major Leagues.

  "The first year I was playing soccer, and then my mom made me get into baseball," Syndergaard said. "We actually had a big argument, with me telling her I didn't want to play, but I guess I just had a knack for it, but thank God she made me play.

• If not for the stubbornness of Syndergaard’s mother, Heidi, Noah might have pursued his athletic goals on the soccer pitch instead of the pitcher’s mound.

  Syndergaard gravitated toward soccer at the age of 4, and its hold on him was so strong that he butted heads with his mother over the idea of even trying baseball.

  “She wanted to make me play baseball,” Syndergaard said. “I didn’t really want to do it, and she was like, ‘All right, well, you’re going to play one season.’

  “I played one season, and I was like, ‘All right, I’m over this.’ She was like, ‘No. You’re going to continue to play.’ Then we got into another argument. Thank goodness she made me stick with it. It’s really paid off.” (Lynn Worth -  Gannett News Service - 8/24/13)

• Noah's father, Brad, raises and breeds horses, and hit mother, Heidi, works in customer service for a medical device company. His has two half-sister, his father's daughter's, but he rarely sees them.

  The young Syndergaard  was uncoordinated. The family nickname for Noah is Bumpy—for the knots that would rise on his forehead due to clumsiness. Any self-confidence left a while ago.

  When his mom made him play baseball, the other kids made fun of him because he was bulky and hardly ever talked. And he didn't have hair under his arms.

• The surprise is that, growing up deep in the heart of Dallas Cowboys country, Syndergaard didn't play football.

  Perhaps it’s because he said he was only an averaged-sized kid until late in high school, and got turned off to football playing in the seventh grade “against kids twice my size from football powerhouses at other schools.” The coaches gave him a specially made helmet to accommodate his glasses and large head

  Just as well, he said, because he grew up rebelling against his family’s love of the Cowboys.

  “I guess I was being a devil’s advocate,” Syndergaard said with a laugh. “But as a kid I hated the Cowboys. The only team I watched was the Rangers.”

• Noah's love of the gym began before his junior year at Mansfield Legacy High. When he asked his dad to take him to the YMCA to run and to try the workouts he'd read about in Muscle and Fitness, his dad would sit in his truck and page through the Fort Worth Star-Telegram while his son began to transform himself.

  "I'd always been self-conscious of my weight, how I appeared to other people," Noah says. "I wanted to change that. Then I got hooked."

• In 2010, the Blue Jays chose Syndergaard in the supplemental first round of the draft, the 38th player chosen. He had pitched well in the Texas 4-A high school playoffs just before the draft. He had gone 7-3 with a 1.42 ERA and was ready to attend Dallas Baptist University to both pitch and play first base until Toronto drafted him.

  "Their scouting department was pretty high on me, but I didn't really know they were going to pick me until about 30 seconds before," Syndergaard said. "I really had no idea at all. It was a dream come true, like Christmas morning when you're a kid. Having Roberto Alomar say my name, I don't even know what my feelings were, it was that powerful." 

• In 2011, Baseball America rated Syndergaard as the 24th-best prospect in the Blue Jays' organization. In 2012, they moved Noah all the way up to #7. And he was up again in the offseason before 2013 spring camps opened, to third-best prospect in the Jays' farm system. They had Noah at #1 in the Mets organization in the spring of 2014. And he was #1 again in the spring of 2015.

• In 2011, pitching at three levels in the lower reaches of the Blue Jays organization, Noah compiled a 1.83 ERA and averaged 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

• Since Little League, Noah Syndergaard's parents have kept a cedar chest in their home outside Dallas, filling it with their son's used baseball jerseys.

• Syndergaard drove to 2013 Spring Training with his parents from their home in Texas.

  "My dad drove a good portion—we switched often. I drove a little, maybe five hours—but I was mostly in the back seat sleeping the whole way," Noah said, saying he liked having his parents in spring camp.

  "It was awesome. I wish they could see me throw in a game. I had a minor injury and stopped for a while, but it was nice to go into a new place that you're not too familiar with and have your parents with you."

• Syndergaard wears it all on his hand. His mentality, television viewing habits, and his alter ego are scrawled across the thumb of his baseball gloves.

  Syndergaard, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound blond-haired Texas native, says that each of his gloves has a “name.” During a game in August 2013, he sported a glove with ‘‘LION’’ written in cursive on it.

  “Lion is just the mentality on the mound,” Syndergaard said. “King of the jungle. King of the mound, I guess.”

  His other gloves are named Heisenberg for the character in the television show “Breaking Bad,” Rick Grimes for a character in “The Walking Dead,” and Drago, as in Ivan Drago, the overpowering, muscle-bound, blond-haired Russian boxer in the movie “Rocky IV.” Drago is Syndergaard’s game glove, which was the glove he used in the 2013 Futures Game at Citi Field. He also has Jon Snow (Game of Thrones) and Thor (Marvel). The old gloves go for a good cause: Each gets raffled off to raise money for the Sjögren’s Syndrome Foundation, a disease that his mother suffers from. (Ardaya - The Athletic)

• Syndergaard opened a lot of eyes during his senior year at Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas, when he went 7-3 with a 1.42 ERA and struck out 85 batters in 59 innings. He credits the coaching staff at Legacy High for crafting a lifting and throwing program to build up arm strength. “I think my last three pitches of the game in the first round of the playoffs were 96, 97, 98,” Syndergaard recalls. 

• Noah is not afraid to put himself out there, but don’t mistake it for boasting. Quite the contrary, Syndergaard comes off as very level-headed, even humble, and he’s quick to say he needs to “make big strides, especially with his changeup, just to be worthy of a big-league call-up.

  It’s just that he was raised as an only child in Mansfield by his parents, Brad and Heidi, to expect the best from himself, starting in the classroom.

   “If I made a ‘B’ in a class,” Syndergaard recalled, “I was pretty afraid to come home sometimes.”

  As a result, he says, he was a straight-A student, and believes that expectation of maximizing his potential eventually carried over to sports. “It’s all about never being satisfied,” he said.

• By high school, Noah played only baseball, yet no one thought of him as even a college prospect until he grew some 4-5 inches to 6-4 going into his senior year. That was about the same time he discovered the weight room.

  “I got dedicated in the weight room and something just clicked,” he said. “I went from throwing 80 mph to 90 from my junior to senior year.”

  Even friends couldn’t believe the transformation. A tireless work ethic could help result in a Big League callup for the young righthander.

  “I barely recognized him,” said Mike Smith, a pitcher who graduated two years ahead of Syndergaard at Mansfield Legacy High School and went on to get drafted by the Angels after attending Dallas-Baptist College. “For a long time he was just a regular-sized kid with some baby fat. He was the No. 2 pitcher on the freshman team.

  “But then he grew and turned into something special. The size helps, but he also works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. To be naturally gifted but still put in the work is pretty fun to watch. It makes you root for him even more.”

  You hear that a lot, talking to the people who know the Mets prospect well. His trainer, Ryan Mentzel, said Syndergaard squats 455 pounds and dead-lifts 512, numbers he says are stunning, even for someone who goes 6-6, 250.

  “He’s really, really strong,” Mentzel said. “I mean, really strong. I work with a bunch of NFL guys and I’ll tell you, nobody works harder than Noah. Sometimes we get to the point where I have to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to be careful at some point.' But I also don’t want to hold him back either. He’s just highly, highly motivated."

  A superior work ethic and a fastball that touches 98 is a formidable combination. Yet baseball people say there is more to Syndergaard. His Double-A catcher in 2013, Blake Forsythe, raved about the kid’s willingness to ask questions between innings on ways to pitch to hitters. “He’s always looking for ways to get better,” Forsythe said.

• Scouts say he has a natural feel for pitching, which may explain why Syndergaard references Greg Maddux when he talks about wanting to disrupt hitters’ timing by changing speeds, as well as go for the strikeout when needed.

  “I’ll elevate the fastball when I’m ahead in the count to try and get the strikeout,” he said. “But if I’ve got a runner on first with less than two outs, I’ll throw a two-seamer down in the zone on the outer half trying to get a double-play ground ball.”

  In short, he’s a student of pitching, but above all, Syndergaard seems to have that Harvey-like something about him. In fact, his eyes lit up talking about the Mets’ injured ace, in particular the night Harvey was so focused last season that he didn’t notice he had a bloody nose on the mound.

  “He’s scary out there,” Syndergaard said admiringly. “He’s intimidating. That’s something I want to resemble.”

  In a lot of ways he does already. But that last, huge step to the big stage still has to be taken.  (John Harper - 1//22/13)

• In 2014, Noah was selected to play in the Futures All-Star Game.

• Syndergaard says he really grew up late in the 2014 season. He has learned self-control and improved his poise.

• Noah is soft-spoken. He is also self-aware and very reflective on how he feels about his ability. He doesn't have swagger, but he has the tools to be a star.

• April 24, 2015: Syndergaard was scratched from his start for Triple-A Las Vegas due to illness, prompting a give-and-take exchange with fans on Twitter that turned personal.

  Syndergaard replied to several tweets criticizing him for missing the start against Albuquerque. When he received a second wave of criticism for responding, Syndergaard wrote: "I'm allowed to stick up for myself, aren't I?"

  The Mets do not necessarily believe so, dispatching a member of the organization to speak with Syndergaard about his comportment.

  "Generally speaking, Twitter is more of a trap than a means of positive communication for athletes and executives," GM Sandy Alderson said. "So I caution him against it. That's something the organization addresses immediately."

• Beginning of the 2015 season: In his second year at Las Vegas, Syndergaard has allowed four earned runs over his first two starts, spanning 7 2/3 innings. His growth process has been painful at times both on and off the field. This spring, Mets teammates David Wright and Bobby Parnell scolded Syndergaard for eating lunch in the clubhouse during a Grapefruit League game, throwing it in the trash, and instructing him to return to the bench. (A DiComo - MLB.com - April 24, 2015)

• Syndergaard's father, Brad, trains horses outside Dallas, but Syndergaard was never exposed to it much as a child. He estimated that he had ridden only about a half-dozen times. (Anthony DiComo - MLB.com - March 2016)

• May 11, 2016: Syndergaard belted two homers against the Dodgers while also holding LA to two runs over eight innings. He became the first big league pitcher to go deep twice in a game since Arizona's Micah Owings in 2007 and just the second Met to do it.

• In his big league debut, Syndergaard batted eighth. He's only the third pitcher in the last 100 years to debut in a game without a designated hitter and not bat from the nine spot.

• Syndergaard is one of two players from Mansfield Legacy High School making a name at the professional level. Wide receiver Josh Doctson, who was a year behind Syndergaard, was a first-round pick of the Washington Redskins.

  GOES ON TV SHOWS

• Dog of Thunder: Syndergaard has earned the nickname "Thor" for his resemblance to the hammer-wielding Norse god, whose home planet of Asgard echoes Syndergaard's last name. His family has an Australian spaniel who was named "Thor" before Syndergaard received the nickname. And in the fall of 2016: Syndergaard made a guest appearance as Thor on Kevin James' new TV show.

• October 2016: Just in time for the World Series, Cartoon Network’s “Uncle Grandpa” animated series will sport a Fall Classic theme on Oct. 22.

  The show featured Rays pitcher Chris Archer, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, Astros second baseman José Altuve, Red Sox pitcher David Price, and Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard. The Major Leaguers attempted to help Uncle Grandpa train his struggling Little League squad.

• August 2017: After months of heated anticipation, Mets fireballer Noah Syndergaard had his moment on Game of Thrones.

  In a recent episode of the hit HBO series' seventh season, Syndergaard had a split-second cameo spot as a Lannister soldier in a battle sequence and he definitely made it count. Essentially winding up as if he were on the pitching mound, Thor reared back and absolutely delivered a strike to take down a Dothraki soldier's horse with a perfectly-located spear toss that even included his pitch face for good measure.

• Favorite shows: Syndergaard's favorite TV series are "Breaking Bad" and "Game of Thrones." He's even named some of his gloves after characters from those shows, including Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow and Heisenberg. Lion Drago from "Rocky IV," Rick Grimes from "The Walking Dead" as well as Thor and Loki are also represented in leather.

• Dec 13, 2016: Within moments of the Red Sox landing Chris Sale at the 2016 Winter Meetings, Syndergaard took to Twitter, bristling at the notion that the Sox now boast baseball's best rotation.

  "I agree to disagree," Syndergaard wrote. Says Thor, "The Mets 'tight-knit' organization is tough to beat."

  "Their ability is outstanding," Syndergaard said of the Mets' rotation, speaking at the team's holiday party at Citi Field. "We're kind of like a tight-knit brotherhood ourselves. We're all just rooting for one another."

  And they will, of course, lean more than ever on Syndergaard, who enters the season on a short list of NL Cy Young Award favorites. Syndergaard's health is a key to the Mets' whole operation.

  "I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job as far as my offseason strength-and-conditioning program," Syndergaard said. "So I'll be ready to go come February."

  For now, Syndergaard is content resting and relaxing. He recently returned from Spain, where he vacationed outside Madrid with his parents. And he showed up in New York for the Mets' holiday party, an annual event for schoolchildren from various Queens neighborhoods. Asked what he wants for Christmas himself, Syndergaard didn't hesitate. "A World Series," he said. (A DiComo - MLB.com - Dec 13, 2016)

• During the winter before 2017 spring training, Syndergaard worked out at the EXOS training facility in Frisco, Texas, with a group of other pro ballplayers that included D'Backs pitcher Shelby Mller, Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp, and retired reliever LaTroy Hawkins.

  One two-hour session in January ended with a grueling exercise in which the players pushed a sled loaded with 270 pounds down a gummy track and then pulled on carrying 330 pounds back. Some of the other players had to take several gasping minutes off between each pass. Noah never missed a turn.

  Syndergaard's goal was to bulk up from 237 pounds to 250 pounds. He as off to spring camp at over 255 and had trimmed his body fat from 15.1% to 13.5%, meaning he had added some 17 pounds of muscle.

  Noah opened a window into his offseason program in a February interview with Men’s Fitness Magazine, which chronicled his fondness for “squat heavy days" and a protein-heavy diet highlighted by a venison, buffalo, sweet potato hash, avocado and egg-laden concoction known as the “bowl of doom.”

  Noah averaged 99 mph on his fastball before he went on the DL in May 2017. So he concluded he could take his game to even greater heights by reconfiguring his body and throwing even harder. The plan worked—to an extent. Syndergaard averaged nearly 99 mph through five starts this season.

  So how did all that grunting and sweating work out? Syndergaard, a fastball-throwing machine, won’t be throwing heat until after the all-star break as he recuperates from a partially torn lat muscle.

  Baseball has been especially challenged to come to grips with the strength and conditioning surge, which keeps pushing players to be stronger and faster in ways that can test their physiological limits. (Jerry Crasnick - BA - 6/09/2017)

• Noah is already the star of his own comic book film franchise, and this spring, he will add another credit to this IMDb page:

  According to Ken Davidoff at the New York Post, Syndergaard filmed his cameo in Spain in November when he had some free time after the Mets were eliminated from the postseason in the NL Wild Card Game.

  "They just know that I'm a fan and they invited me to do that," Syndergaard told MLB.com's Anthony DiComo. "I couldn't say no." (MLB - Cut4 - March 3, 2017)

• April 14, 2017: Syndergaard became the first pitcher in Mets history to strike out 20 batters before walking one to start a season.

• Dec 17, 2018: You'd be hard-pressed to find a better trade in recent Mets history than the one that took place on Dec. 17, 2012. On that day, then-GM Sandy Alderson sent ace R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays for John Buck and three prospects. It was a stunning move at the time. Dickey might have been 38, but he was a knuckleballer with plenty of miles left on the arm and had also just captured the NL Cy Young Award.

  How could any Minor Leaguer be worth that? Thankfully for Mets fans, the package included two players who proved pivotal to their surprising run to the NL pennant just three years later—catcher Travis d'Arnaud and starter Noah Syndergaard. The tall righty recognized the six-year anniversary of this trade with a tweet: 6 years ago today a Texan became a New Yorker via trade. #LGM

• Saluting New York's infamous naked cowboy is one thing, but Syndergaard had more than that in store for his anniversary.  He met up with teammate Brandon Nimmo at Madison Square Garden, where the fan favorites took in a Knicks game at courtside.

  It certainly helps to have connections, and the Knicks made sure to shout Syndergaard out on their Twitter account, too. The Knicks couldn't pull out a victory, as they fell to the Suns, 128-110, but that didn't stop Syndergaard from having a good time messing around with his pal. (A Mearns - MLB.com - Dec 17, 2018)

• Dec 27, 2018: The New York City skyline turned blue thanks to an electrical mishap in Queens. The sight of a bright blue sky at night caused many, including Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, to wonder what strange forces were behind it. To get out in front of any false accusations, Noah Syndergaard jumped on Twitter to let him know that Thor was not the cause.

  Still, he offered his services, if needed. Not me Broseff. Need me to come save you Nimms? @You_Found_Nimmo. Nimmo did not respond to Syndergaard's offer of help, which hopefully means that he didn't need any saving. 

• Feb 22, 2019: Thor and some of his fellow Mets pitchers went on an epic fishing trip. For most players, Spring Training is a time to slowly ease into the high-intensity mindset of a grueling 162-game regular season. Some, however, seem to want to ratchet up the stress level during the preseason schedule. Mets pitchers Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo, Tyler Bashlor and Jacob Rhame recently decided to spend some time away from camp out on the Atlantic Ocean doing some fishing. But this was not exactly a relaxing trip out on the water—these pitchers were going after some absolute monsters of the sea.

  At 6-foot-6, and 240 pounds, Syndergaard is one of the bigger players in the game today. And yet, whatever that thing he has on the line is looks like it could swallow him whole without much hesitation. Be careful, Thor!  (MLB.com - Cut4 - Feb 22, 2019)

• April 5, 2019: If you come for Noah ponytail on Twitter, you best not miss. You'd think they'd have learned by now. Noah has been a star in the Mets rotation since 2015, and he first started his Twitter account way back in 2011. And yet, despite mountains of evidence suggesting it's a bad idea, some people continue to insist on coming at him. The latest victim: D.C. media personality Grant Paulsen.

  @granthpaulsenNoah Syndergaard's ponytail annoys me more than having a popcorn kernel stuck in my teeth in a world devoid of toothpicks. I hear you . . . I feel the same about guys named Grant. #struggleisreal. Grant, we feel for you, but you did walk into that one.

• April 12, 2019: Noah wasn't pleased when Brodie Van Wagenen snapped his picture while he was in the tub. Sports are weird, man. Beyond the fact that your job is to run and jump and throw better than everyone else instead of tricking your boss into thinking that you've been calculating sales or whatever, you also spend lots of time showering and hopping into warm tubs with your co-workers. Noah Syndergaard got the downside of that when his boss, GM Brodie Van Wagenen, snapped a photo of him taking a post-game bath.

  You dare to step in my Dojo?!? @GMBVW. Photo Cred:Brodie Van Wagenan

  Honestly, can you blame him? Of course, now this has me wishing that all jobs came with complimentary, on-site hot tubs. Maybe that's what the world really needs.

• May 2, 2019: Noah  became the seventh pitcher in Major League history to homer and pitch a 1-0 shutout in the same game.

• Oct 26, 2019: What exactly do MLB players do after the season ends? Not everyone is so laser-focused on the game to fulfill the classic Rogers Hornsby quote about staring out the window all winter waiting for spring. 

  Some players embrace a wild workout regimen. Others pursue a new style or do goat yoga. As for Noah Syndergaard? Well, as Jimmy Kimmel revealed on his show in Brooklyn, Syndergaard has another job: Chinese food deliveryman.

  This is admittedly a surprising turn. Why would a MLB player need to channel his inner Do the Right Thing-era Spike Lee? 

  Well, as Thor explained, it's the only way that he can afford all his hair products. Tough.

  I get it, though. It's important to keep your style on point, and Thor pays about as close attention to his hair as anyone in the game. After all, baseball isn't everything, and the products continue to do masterful work on Thor's flowing locks. Worth every penny. (CUT4 - MLB.com - Oct 26, 2019)

• Jan. 27, 2021: Noah is starting his own book club, going by the imaginative name: Noah’s Book Club. The Mets pitcher announced his new venture via Twitter with a picture of himself reading a book titled, ‘What Doesn’t Kill Us,’ wearing sunglasses, shirtless, in a tub filled with ice.

   In case you’re starting to think this is a joke, Syndergaard is as serious about the book club as the ice bath he’s taking.

  “I’ve been reading a lot of books while recovering from my Tommy John surgery and thought it could be cool to share this new hobby with everyone,” Syndergaard told the Daily News. “I’ve learned a lot from all of these books about recovery techniques, leadership, leaning on my inner strength, and simply that it’s fun. (Deesha Thosar)

• Noah will be the first Angels player to wear No. 34 since Nick Adenhart, who died in a car crash in 2009.

  Though the team has avoided using the number since his death, Syndergaard received permission from Adenhart's family. His stepfather Duane Gigeous explained the decision to Sam Blum of The Athletic.

  "We are of the opinion that we think there could be no one better than Noah Syndergaard to wear it. We appreciate the type of pitcher that he is and the type of competitor that he is. I think, hopefully, it will spark some conversations. There’s a generation of baseball fans who don’t know who Nick is and don’t know Nick’s story. And 13 years later, it might be time that sparks a conversation of, 'Hey, this was Nick Adenhart.'"

  Adenhart made four starts in the majors, including throwing six shutout innings in his first start of the 2009 season. Later that night, he was killed at age 22 by a drunk driver.

  Syndergaard will hope to honor the pitcher's memory in his first season with the team after signing a one-year, $21 million deal in the offseason. He previously told AM830's The SportsLodge that he wanted "to honor his name and wear that jersey with pride."

  The 29-year-old has spent his entire major-league career with the Mets, earning one All-Star selection in parts of six seasons. But he has pitched just two innings over the last two years while recovering from Tommy John surgery.  (Rob Goldberg - DEC 17, 2021)

• May 10, 2023: Noah Syndergaard is leaving no stone unturned as he tries to turn his disastrous 2023 season around.

  The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander shared this week that he has turned to hypnosis to try to snap out of his struggles. Syndergaard revealed to Jack Harris of the LA Times that (several times in recent weeks) he puts on an eye mask, relaxes his body, and dozes off as Dodgers mental skills coach Brent Walker speaks softly to his subconscious.

            TRANSACTIONS

• June 2010: The Blue Jays chose him in the first round of the supplemental draft, out of Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas. He signed via scout Steve Miller for a bonus of $600,000.

• December 17, 2012: The Blue Jays sent C John Buck, C Travis d'Arnaud, Syndergaard, and OF Wuilmer Beccera to the Mets. In return, they received R.A. Dickey and catchers Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas.

• Jan 12, 2018: Noah and the Mets avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $3 million.

• Jan 11, 2019: Noah and the Mets avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $6 million.

• Jan 10, 2020: Syndergaard and the Mets avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year, $9.7 million contract,

• Dec 22, 2020: The Mets avoided salary arbitration with one of their highest-profile players, agreeing to a one-year deal with Noah Syndergaard. The contract is for $9.7 million,

• Nov 3, 2021: Noah chose free agency.

• Nov. 16, 2021: Syndergaard and the Angels have agreed on a one-year, $21 million contract.

  The Mets had made Syndergaard the one-year, $18.4 million qualifying offer. The Mets will receive Draft pick compensation for his departure; the Angels will sacrifice a second-round pick in the 2022 Draft. For the Angels, it's a high-risk, high-reward shot that may bolster their rotation.

• Aug. 2, 2022: The Philadelphia Phillies acquired RHP Noah Syndergaard from the Los Angeles Angels for OF Mickey Moniak and OF Jadiel Sanchez.

• Nov 6, 2022: Noah chose free agency.

• Dec. 14, 2022: The Dodgers signed Noah to a one year deal. Syndergaard's deal with the Dodgers is for $13 million, with $1.5 million in performance bonuses. 

• July 26, 2023: The Dodgers acquired shortstop Amed Rosario from the Guardians in exchange for right-hander Noah Syndergaard and cash considerations. 
  
  
• Aug 30, 2023: The Guardians released Noah.

• Syndergaard has a 96-101 mph four-seam FASTBALL with rise. Noah dropped his sinker for 2019. He has good spin and shape on his 84-86 mph 12-to-6 downer CURVEBALL (a 60 pitch or better), on which he can vary the shape and speed. He also has a deceptive 89-93 mph CHANGEUP (getting a 55 grade) with good sink that he sells well. It has good separation in velocity from his heater.

  He picked up a 92-94 mph SLIDER while with the Blue Jays. And that slider averaged 92.5 mph in 2018 and was completely unhittable.

• 2016 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball: 29% of the time; Sinker 30.3% of the time; Change 11.1%; Slider 21%; and Curve 8.5% of the time.

  2017 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball: 8.9% of the time; Sinker 42.4% of the time; Change 18.2%; Slider 20%; and Curve 10.4% of the time.

  2018 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball 20.7% of the time, his Sinker 33%; Change 15.7%; Slider 20.9%; and Curveball 9.8% of the time. Average velocity: 4-seam 98.1 mph, Sinker 98, Change 90.9, Slider 92.5, and Curve 83.6 mph.

  2019 Season Pitch Usage: 4-seam Fastball 29.2% of the time, his Sinker 29.9%; Change 16.1%; Slider 15.2%; and Curveball 9.5% of the time. Average velocity: 4-seam 98.1 mph, Sinker 97.9, Change 91.5, Slider 89.4, and Curve 80.7 mph.

  2020 Season Pitch Usage:  Did not pitch.

  2021 Season: only made 87 pitches in season mostly spent on th IL.

  2022 season Pitch Usage/Avg. Velo: Sinker 32.4% - 94 mph; Slider 22% - 85 mph; Change 19% - 89 mph; Fastball 14.7% - 94.5%; Curve 12% - 77 mph.

• Noah locates his fastball on all four quadrants of the strike zone. And that heater explodes out of his hand.

  His control grades an above-average 60. But his command within the strike zone could improve.

• Syndergaard's slider doesn't give the hitter a chance. He holds the baseball a little differently than the conventional slider—it's more balanced in the middle of his hand.

  "I was watching 'Bull Durham' the other day. They are teaching Nuke LaLoosh the grip, 'hold it like an egg,' and that is something I learned (late in 2015)," Noah said, while demonstrating how he holds his slider. "I used to grip the crap out of the ball.

  "I loosened the grip and I am throwing even harder than I did last year. I have that finger right up against the seam and rotate the ball on its axis," Noah explained. "Thumb on the side allows you to get your fingers on top, and then right at the last second it rolls off your fingers. I barely hold it.

  "Just trust the grip and throw it just like my fastball. I try not to think too much."

• Syndergaard uses his height to get good downhill plane on his fastball and it rides in on righthanders, consistently inducing weak contact.

  His big frame gives him an imposing presence on the bump. His delivery is clean. And he has very good body control for his size, which leads to quality command and control.

  His delivery may not be textbook—he opens early, costing him deception—but he’s strong enough to repeat his mechanics and throw strikes.

• Syndergaard has refined his pitch sequencing and learned to keep his fastball down in the zone. He has become the #2 starter in the Major Leagues that scouts projected him to become.

  “Stuff-wise, he’s probably second to nobody but he has a lot to learn mentally,” Las Vegas manager Wally Backman said in 2014. “If he has the right guy behind the plate, he’s going to be pretty good, because the catcher really runs the game for him right now. He needs to learn to be able to call his own pitches in certain situations at the minor league level, for sure, and trust the stuff that he has. For me, it’s all about consistency for him and really being able to command the fastball.”

  Backman acknowledged Syndergaard can become too reliant on his fastball, while Plawecki noted he’d like to see Syndergaard speed up his tempo.

  “And I think toward the end we got better with that,” Plawecki said. “That’s not something you can change overnight, just to go up there and be quick on the mound. It’s a matter of doing it in the game outing after outing. And I think we got a lot better with that.” (Adam Rubin - Baseball America - 12/05/14)

• Noah began working on being more of a pitcher, not just a thrower. He says Frank Viola really helped him in 2014. He now uses his whole arsenal, having improved his secondary pitches the second half of the season.

• Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen says that Syndergaard "asks more questions than anybody has ever asked me."

  "'Why would you do this? Why did you do that?' I'm very excited for him."

  But, there is one concern: Hitters can get a good look at his pitches.

  "The hitters get a good look," Warthen said. "It's so methodical, almost statuesque. You're up, you show, you throw."

• In 2015, Syndergaard set the regular-season record for average fastball velocity per 100 innings pitched (97.1 mph).

• April 20, 2017:  Even on nights when the dribblers squeeze just inside the line, when the bloopers drop in between the mist and the occasional extra-base hit, Syndergaard makes sure each at-bat against him remains a daunting chore. Syndergaard wasn't at his best in a 6-4 loss to the Phillies. His first defeat of 2017 came courtesy of a season-high 5 runs against.  

  Even in defeat, Syndergaard continued to showcase a combination of power and command rarely seen in Major League history. The positives come in the peripherals, and they're phenomenal. Syndergaard stepped on the mound and 10 more strikeouts followed. Once again, no walks were allowed. Once again, no pitches left the yard.  

  That made it four starts in 2017 for Syndergaard without allowing a walk or a homer. That's not just the best mark in the bigs, it's tied for the best streak to start a season in Major League history, matching Adam Wainwright's streak in 2013. Wainwright recorded 28 strikeouts over 29 innings during his run.  Syndergaard has struck out 30 over 26 innings.

  "To put up those kind of numbers is truly remarkable," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "It's unbelievable."

   Syndergaard's 26 consecutive innings to start the season without allowing a walk is a Mets franchise record, and it is the 12th-longest streak in Major League history. His 26 innings to start the season without allowing a walk or homer is the fourth-longest stretch, behind only Babe Adams in 1920, Red Lucas in 1933 and Wainwright.  

  None of this is meant to color Syndergaard as unbeatable. It merely means he rarely beats himself. Even when he's not at his best, Syndergaard makes it tough on the opposition

  "I give a lot of the credit to the work with pitching coach Dan Warthen," Syndergaard said. "It makes pitching as easy as it can possibly be, because it's really tough sometimes."  (Trezza - mlb.com)

• March 23, 2018: Noah draws an imaginary line from his armpit down the right side of his body.

  "Your lat is a huge muscle that goes from under here, all the way down your back," he says, explaining how it interacts with his hips and his leg muscles. Syndergaard is speaking about what he learned in 2017, after a lat tear torpedoed what was supposed to be one of the best years of his career. He is talking about hip flexibility and t-spine mobility, the types of things that prompt trainer Eric Cressey to call him "a little bit of a nerd."

  For the first act of his time with the Mets, Syndergaard focused on becoming the biggest, baddest pitcher in baseball. A nerd he was not. Syndergaard revolved his workouts around powerlifting. He threw 101 mph and said he could do more. He pitched through discomfort. He threw harder and faster and better until . . . one of the biggest muscles in his body gave out.

  "I guess you could say ignorance is bliss," Syndergaard said. "At that time, I didn't know to a certain extent. I thought that's what I needed to be doing. I feel like the stuff I'm learning now about my body, and how to take care of my body, is a step above. I'm not going to have another one of those, 'Oh, s---' moments where maybe I need to do something else."

  Looking back, Syndergaard says, the warning signs were easy to see. Strong as anyone in baseball, Syndergaard lacked mobility. A series of tests he took at Cressey's Jupiter, Fla., facility revealed what Syndergaard called a "messed up" body. Cressey recalled watching him pitch at one point and taking note of the way he ran to cover third base—a gait that Syndergaard likens to "a fat guy in flip-flops." "I probably would have gone more with the Tin Man analogy," Cressey said. "It wasn't an athletic, fluid movement."

  A well-known personal trainer with studios in Massachusetts and Florida, Cressey corresponded with Syndergaard for years after the Blue Jays drafted him in 2010, but never trained him personally until Syndergaard reached out after tearing his lat last April 30 in Washington. Syndergaard was an avid reader of Cressey's blog posts. Realizing he needed to do things differently, he sought out someone whose philosophies he trusted.

  "If I'm coming to an organization, I don't know diddly squat about how I'm supposed to train my body," Syndergaard said. "I'm supposed to just trust other people to tell me that this is the right way? Have you ever read 'Freakonomics'? You know how the guy takes his car to the shop and the mechanic says, 'You need a transmission change?' Well, I don't know any better. So yeah, you can change my transmission, but I might not need one." The educated consumer knows. The educated athlete understands his body.

  The jock becomes the nerd: Syndergaard, after a "pretty enlightening" offseason of reading and studying fitness methods in general, and more specifically how they relate to pitching, feels he has reached another plane of understanding. A winter spent supplementing his heavy weightlifting with massages, physical therapy, plyometric and mobility training has him confident he's found the "answers to make sure I never have another serious injury again."

  In a profession rife with risk, that may be unrealistic. But if the short-term results are anything close to what Syndergaard believes they can be, the Mets think they can ride their rebuilt ace back to the postseason. Although Syndergaard will start Opening Day mostly because Jacob deGrom was not healthy enough to claim the assignment, only one of those two throws 101-mph fastballs and 95-mph sliders. There may not be a pitcher in baseball with a higher ceiling.

  Consider: In 62 career games, Syndergaard owns a 2.89 ERA with 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings. A popular pick to win the NL Cy Young in 2017, Syndergaard fanned 23 batters in 20 innings this spring, allowing three earned runs. His goal is to reach 200 innings for the first time in his career, knowing if he accomplishes that, everything else will fall into place.

  "He's a guy who absolutely has the potential to win Cy Youngs and start All-Star Games," Cressey said. "You only see what you see on TV. You see arm speed. You see the number of strikeouts. It's very hard to appreciate that in the offseason, there are guys who are thinking about how to get better. That's the stuff that you see from Noah." (A DiCimom- MLB.com - March 23, 2018)

• His slider is his best pitch. Here's how he uses it: Typically ahead in the count, Syndergaard is capable of burying his slider down and away to right-handers as a wipeout pitch. His whiff rates (swinging strikes per swings) are off the charts with that pitch, and for a pitcher who can throw fastballs near triple digits, guarding against the slider makes for an uncomfortable at-bat for opposing hitters.

  What it does: Syndergaard possesses skills never seen before for a pitcher, and his slider is the best example of that. Pitches are not generally thrown with such velocity that carry the same movement as his devastating slider, which has become one of the game's best put-away pitches. It dives more north and south than a typical slider, with breaking-ball movement instead of cutter movement, all while averaging from 91-93 mph and topping out at 95 mph.

  What they say about it: "He just throws that pitch as hard as he can, and it's got good break," Mets catcher Jose Lobaton said. "I've faced him before and it's really good. It's different because it's so hard. You never expect somebody to throw 93- to 94-mph sliders."

  Statcast fact: Since Syndergaard began throwing it routinely in 2016, his 47.8 percent whiff rate is sixth among starters who have thrown at least 100 sliders.

• In August 2018 in Chicago, the day after a start in which he berated himself for inconsistent mechanics during a "disappointing" season, Noah crept out of the clubhouse early to work on his form. In the shallow outfield grass at Wrigley Field, Syndergaard played a game of catch, slowing things down as he exaggerated every motion.

  Oftentimes obsessive about his between-starts routine, Syndergaard now regularly throws two bullpen sessions instead of one—a tip that he picked up from Jacob deGrom, who had copied it from John Smoltz. But for all the work Syndergaard was doing, his focus, according to Mets manager Mickey Callaway, remained too stiff, too mechanically driven during starts.

  That changed on September 2, 2018, at AT&T Park, where Syndergaard found fluidity in a 4-1 win over the Giants, pitching a two-hitter for the first complete game of his career.  (DiComo - mlb.com - 9/2/18)

• Feb 25, 2019: This time, there was no spectacle. Unlike February 2018, when Syndergaard waltzed into FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, hit 101 mph on the radar gun, and then conducted his post-game interview shirtless.  He emerged from the Mets’ clubhouse wearing a plain black T-shirt and a methodical attitude. In the Mets’ 3-3 tie with the Astros, Syndergaard topped out at a casual 99 mph, focusing mostly on his four-seam fastball—pitching’s version of vanilla ice cream.

  That’s not to say Syndergaard’s pizazz has vanished; his half-shaved haircut has been a frequent topic of discussion at camp, after he spent part of his winter in Europe posing as a Viking warrior for a History Channel drama. But on the mound, Syndergaard is businesslike.

  “He does it so easy,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “It was nice, throwing as many strikes as he did. He and Jacob looked like they should at this point in spring."

  Coming off an injury-plagued season, Syndergaard is tweaking and searching, trying to find a formula that will keep him both healthy and successful in 2019. The main change to his game is an abandonment of the two-seam fastball. In 2017, it was his primary pitch. And in 2018, he scaled it back. (A DiComo - MLB.com - Feb 25, 2019).0.

• Of Noah’s 2020 spring focal points, it’s possible none are as important as his ability to control the running game. Over the 2018-2019 seasons, opponents stole 74 bases off Syndergaard in 80 attempts. No other Major League pitcher allowed more than 39 steals over that same stretch.

  Syndergaard believes his work with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner is paying dividends.

  “I’d like to think I’m quite a bit further along than I’ve ever been,” Syndergaard said. “It took a lot of swallowing my pride in knowing there’s something I really need to work on there, and [I] made a huge emphasis of doing so.” (DiComo -mlb.com - 3/3/2020)

• Aug 26, 2021: The Mets’ plans to convert Noah to relief work in his return from Tommy John surgery. And Syndergaard announced that he will refrain from throwing breaking pitches for the rest of this season.

  The idea initially came from Mets team physician Dr. David Altchek and Dodgers orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who believe the mid-May setback that delayed Syndergaard’s return by three months may have stemmed from the torque generated by Syndergaard’s high-velocity slider. Those two instructed Syndergaard not to throw sliders for the rest of the year. To be safe, Syndergaard has decided that he also won’t throw his curveball. “Just this last month of the season, I’ll just work on four-seam [fastball], two-seam and changeup,” Syndergaard said, “and I think I can be effective with that.” (A Dicomo - MLB.com - Aug 26, 2021)

• April 16, 2022: Thor's Texas-sized homecoming ends in victory. Syndergaard again relied heavily on his sinker and changeup, but he also had success with his curveball. His sinker averaged 94.7 mph, while he registered six swings and misses with his changeup and four with his curveball against the Rangers.

  "That's the thing -- he's a big guy, so you think he just throws hard, but his changeup and breaking ball are outstanding," Angels manager Joe Maddon said. "And with command. I can't emphasize that enough. That's the difference between him and a lot of other guys. He commands all of his pitches, especially his offspeed pitches." (R Bollinger - MLB.com - April 16, 2022)

• 2022 Season: Syndergaard signed with the Angels before the lockout on Nov. 17, 2021 for one year, $21 million. Syndergaard was met with the enthusiasm by the franchise and pitched fairly well, but as the Angels' hopes waned, so did the incentive to keep him.

  Syndergaard posted a 3.83 ERA in 15 starts with the Angels, logging five quality starts in the process. In his final three starts, however, he failed to go more than five innings. Syndergaard had reinvented himself post Tommy John, leading heavily on a sinker-slider combo.

  The Phillies traded for the righty just under the deadline, getting him for Mickey Moniak and Jadiel Sanchez. The move came after it became clear his velocity wasn't going increase, despite Syndergaard's optimism time removed from the surgery would help.

  Syndergaard's debut for the Phillies was interesting. He went five innings in his first start on Aug. 4, giving up four runs. After what would have likely been his last inning, the game was called due to rain.

  Nine of his 10 Phillies appearances were starts, in which Syndergaard posted a 4.12 ERA but a FIP of 3.66. He went more than five innings five times in that span.

  In the playoffs, manager Rob Thomson changed Syndergaard's usage. After burning though Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola in the wild card round, Syndergaard was used to close out Game 2 of the NLDS against the Braves in a three-run loss. He came back to start Game 4 of the series -- the Phillies' clincher -- going three innings and giving up one run on a homer. The Phillies would go on to win in a masterclass of managerial maneuvering from Thomson.

  Syndergaard also threw 1 1/3 innings in the NLCS against the Padres, coming out in the sixth in another bullpen game. Syndergaard was part of a seven-pitcher effort to beat San Diego in Game 4 and take a 3-1 lead in the series.  (Kevin Skiver - Nov. 3, 2022)

• 2023 Season:  Stats: 7.16 ERA, 5.52 FIP, 55⅓ IP, 39 K, 9 BB, 12 HR, 20 SB, 0.1 fWAR, -1.0 bWAR w/Dodgers
  
  

  Syndergaard’s pitching was so god-awful in 2023 that it is easy to forget the mild excitement that came when the Dodgers signed the tall right-hander last December on a one-year, $13 million contract. Unfortunately, Syndergaard suffered from what will now be called “Trayce Thompson disease”: he had one good day, which was his first day.

  In his only good start with the Dodgers, he went six innings, gave up a single run, and struck out six. Thormania had begun ... and ended faster than the shelf life of a Dodger Dog left outside of the refrigerator.

  The rest of the way with the Dodgers, Syndergaard started 11 times and allowed nearly as many runs (43) as innings pitched (49⅓).
  
  

  The Dodgers went 4-7 in those starts by some minor miracle. The fewest runs allowed by Syndergaard in this stretch were technically zero as he was pulled after a single inning in Milwaukee after sustaining a cut on his right index finger. Otherwise, it was a lot of crooked numbers, a lot of innings from the bullpen, and a lot of games where the Dodgers just had to slug it out.

  Opposing batters in this stretch had a slash line of .327/.366/.585 against Syndergaard, a reasonable facsimile of Freddie Freeman’s stat line during the regular season (.331/.410/.567).

  But the worst stat of all for Syndergaard with the Dodgers was the 20 stolen bases allowed in 21 attempts. Runners have traditionally run wild against Syndergaard, but with the rule changes in 2023, the theft essentially became informal bullying. Walks and singles became doubles and his starts dragged on interminably. ( Michael Elizondo@elidelajandro  Nov 1, 2023)

   

• May 12, 2016: Syndergaard became the first MLB pitcher in nine years to hit 2 home runs in a game.

• In 2016, Noah allowed more stolen bases, 48, than any other pitcher in all of MLB. The second-worst was the Brewers' Jimmy Nelson, who allowed 30.

• 2010: Noah's elbow was bothering him, so the Blue Jays shut him down as a precaution.

• March 2013: A pulled lat muscle/abdominal strain hindered Syndergaard during most of Spring Training. He was healed up by the start of the season, though.

• May 25-June 5, 2014: Noah was on the D.L. with a flexor pronator strain in his right elbow.

  The injury can be a precursor to Tommy John surgery, but the Mets portrayed the injury as "mild" and not overly concerning.

  May 27, 2014: A feeling of relief washed over Sandy Alderson when news of Noah's MRI results flicked onto the Mets general manager's cell phone screen. Syndergaard had no structural damage in his right arm, and he should be able to return to the mound soon.

  Syndergaard has no flexor pronator ligament damage, though the Mets will continue to be cautious with him. Doctors recommended a regimen of shoulder stretching exercises to fortify his forearm.

  "Everything appears to be OK," Alderson said. "Hopefully, this is a short-term disablement for him over the next few days."

• June 9-16, 2014: Syndergaard was back on the D.L., this time with left shoulder soreness.

• May 1-September 22, 2017: Noah was on the DL with partial tear in right lat muscle.

• May 26-Aug 1, 2018: Noah was on the DL with strained ligament in right index finger.

• June 16-30, 2019: Noah was on the IL with right hamstring strain. 

• Mar. 25-Nov 2, 2020: Noah underwent Tommy John surgery in West Palm Beach, FL to fix a torn ulnar collateral ligament.  He was on track for a return in summer 2021. Feb 20-Sept 28, 2021: Noah was on the IL recovering from TJ surgery

  May 27, 2021:  Noah was shut down from throwing for six weeks.  Assuming at least a month-long ramp-up once he restarts his throwing program, Syndergaard will not come off the injured list until August at the earliest.

  May 28, 2021: Although Syndergaard did avoid the worst, learning that an MRI exam revealed no structural damage in his right elbow, there is enough inflammation in the joint that the Mets believe shutting him down is the correct course of action. Syndergaard, who felt discomfort in his elbow during a Minor League rehab start, has not pitched in a big league game since March 2020.

  Aug 22, 2021:   Syndergaard faced batters on Aug. 17 in San Francisco and Aug. 21 in Los Angeles, throwing approximately 20 pitches per session. He topped out around 94-95 mph during the latter live BP and is scheduled to throw at least one more at Citi Field, before going on a rehab assignment. Acting GM Zack Scott has discussed the possibility of Syndergaard coming back as a reliever to speed up his rehab, which Syndergaard subsequently said he’d be willing to do. 

  Aug 26, 2021: Thor set to begin a Minor League rehab assignment at High-A Brooklyn. It was Syndergaard’s first game action since May, when he cut short a rehab start due to right elbow tightness. The Mets intend for Syndergaard to return to the club in September as a reliever.

  In essence, then, Syndergaard has become a two-pitch pitcher, as he was during his return to a Minor League rehab assignment for High-A Brooklyn. Throwing exclusively fastballs and changeups, Syndergaard served up a first-pitch homer to Orioles prospect Lamar Sparks, who took a ferocious hack at a 95 mph ball well above the strike zone.

  According to one scout in attendance, Aberdeen hitters were starting their swings early to try to catch up to Syndergaard’s heat, which registered 94-96 mph on the radar gun, as he also hit a batter and recorded one strikeout in his inning of work. The same scout described Syndergaard as “nowhere close” to a return, though he based that evaluation partly on the fact that Syndergaard did not throw any breaking pitches. 

  Aug 30, 2021:  Frustrated Syndergaard's rehab has been delayed. Noah did not make his second scheduled Minor League rehab start for an undisclosed health reason.  Manager Luis Rojas initially made the announcement, chalking Syndergaard’s absence up to a “non-baseball-related injury.” Multiple sources later clarified that Syndergaard is not dealing with an injury, but instead an illness. Rojas confirmed that Syndergaard is vaccinated against COVID-19.

  “He’s frustrated,” Rojas said. No other Mets players or employees needed to be isolated in response to Syndergaard’s infection, according to a team official. 

  Sept 25, 2021:  Noah could be back in a Mets uniform before the regular season wraps up. The right-hander allowed one hit and struck out a pair of batters during a scoreless inning of work for Triple-A Syracuse. (Editor's note: At the very end of the 2021 season, Syndergaard finally pitched in a couple of games for the Mets.)

• May 9, 2023: The Dodgers are in wait-and-see mode as far as a potential injured list stint for Syndergaard, who exited his start Tuesday after one inning due to a cut on his right index finger.Syndergaard played catch before the series finale in Milwaukee. His finger was covered with DermaBond (a wound closure product) during that catch session, according to manager Dave Roberts.

  “I think we'll kind of revisit that," Roberts said of whether Syndergaard would require an IL stint, "and then probably make a decision Friday, I would say."

  Before throwing a pitch in the first inning, Syndergaard received a mound visit from the umpiring crew and then walked off with a trainer. Syndergaard, whose fingertip appeared to be covered in blood, returned after several minutes.

  In the top of the second, a trainer was seen examining Syndergaard's right finger in the dugout. Phil Bickford took over on the mound in the bottom of the inning. 

• June 8-July 31, 2023: Noah was on the IL with right index finger blister.