GLENDALE, Ariz. — One way or another, Noah Syndergaard wants to get back to being that dominant, top-of-the rotation starter. And in his first season with the Dodgers, he thinks he can.
Whether or not the right-hander throws 100 mph again, domination is the goal. He believes he can be that guy again, even throwing only 95 to 98 mph. But he still sees 100 mph as possible.
“There’s no reason it’s not possible. The critics will say not at my age. But you look at [Jacob] deGrom exponentially increasing his velocity, and he’s 35 years old. [Justin] Verlander, too,” Syndergaard, still only 30, said. “I think it’s ignorant on the part of critics.”
Syndergaard is giving himself every opportunity to make it back to glory. He arrived in Arizona before the new year to get acquainted with the Dodgers’ staff and their processes, and to make sure he was uber-ready for spring training, which should go better than last year, when he was only a year removed from Tommy John surgery and had only three weeks to get ready following the work stoppage.
He was only a bit better than average during that comeback season, which began with the Angeles and concluded with the Phillies after an August trade. But he sees no reason he can’t be great again. He certainly always has been willing to put in the work.
“My recovery game is second to none, my work ethic, my attention to detail and my passion for the craft and the process,” Syndergaard said. “So it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense how I can regress as a final product coming back from this rehab.”
He sure looks like he’s on the cusp of something special. He sat at 94 mph and was up to 96 mph in a couple of clean innings Thursday against some of the better Dodgers hitters, including Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy. Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said he noticed good “life in the zone.” Syndergaard himself said he’s only “a couple percentage points” away from readiness.
He feels a huge difference from a year ago, when he was about to play for the Angels, barely 30 miles down I-5 from Dodger Stadium. The biggest difference is that he’s another year removed from Tommy John surgery.
“Last year, I didn’t throw a pitch where it didn’t feel like I was pitching in a straightjacket,” Syndergaard said. “Everyone said there’s a Tommy John hangover. I thought I was pretty unique in that I could avoid that. But it wasn’t possible.”
Syndergaard’s numbers tell you he pitched solidly with both the Angels and then the Phillies, posting a better-than-average 3.94 ERA. But it didn’t feel right. And it wasn’t him.
It was certainly a long way from his best Mets years, when he put up consecutive sub-3.00 ERAs, 2.60 in 2016 followed by 2.97 in 2017. But the biggest difference was in the strikeout rate. After he put up five straight seasons with at least a strikeout an inning in Queens, he only stuck out 6.3 batters per nine innings last year, and just 5.1 with Philadelphia.
“It was like trying to change a tire on a car while it was still moving,” Syndergaard said. “It was hard to make changes that would stick. The Phillies, too, were throwing duct tape on stuff. … I still did a pretty good job. But it’s hard to get hitters out when you’re thinking about what your body is doing in mid-delivery.”
Syndergaard is en route to regaining his lost velocity. One thing he never has lost is his way with words, which explains his more than 1.2 million Twitter followers, many times more than some bigger stars. He credits his tweeting success to “dad jokes” and “cheesy humor,” but he’s a marketing plus, which fits the Dodgers, who are expert at brand making.
They are pretty good at developing and working with pitchers, too. Syndergaard’s locker is close to that of Clayton Kershaw, arguably the club’s best pitcher since Sandy Koufax (there’s one empty locker between Syndergaard and Kershaw at the front of the Dodgers spring clubhouse). But it’s the tutelage he’ll get from Prior and the staff that swayed Syndergaard to choose the Dodgers. Word is he could have done better than his $13 million salary elsewhere.
“There might have been more money on the table with another team.,” Syndergaard said. “But I wanted to give myself the best chance to get back to the World Series and win it all. And I wanted the best coaching and direction that the sport has to offer and I’m fully convinced that that is with the Dodgers.”
It’s early in camp. But Syndergaard is impressing with his adjustments and attitude. He felt he was opening up too much on his deliveries last year, and he’s starting to get back to something closer to the way he pitched in New York. The best guess is this: He can be Thor again.
