Credit: Elsa / Getty Images North America
Noah Syndergaard: 9-7, 3.24 ERA, 10.0 K/9, $410,437 salary in 2015
The youngest of the bunch, Syndergaard may have the highest upside. The 23-year-old behemoth debuted in the minor leagues at the age of 17, and like deGrom, has yet to exceed 200 innings in a professional season. Syndergaard has struck out a ridiculous 13.8 per nine in the postseason. He is still very raw, as evidenced by his corresponding 4.2 walks per nine in the playoffs. That high walk rate, however, seems to be an aberration or the result of a little bit of nervousness under the pressure of October baseball. Syndergaard walked only 1.9 batters per nine in his 24 starts with the Mets after debuting on May 12.
An extension for a rookie? How crazy does that sound? Well, the Kansas City Royals set the bar with Yordano Ventura‘s extension prior to this season. After dazzling in the postseason last year, the Royals gave Ventura a five-year, $23 MM extension with two option years. Ventura had made only 34 big league starts prior to the extension. Syndergaard has been just as good, if not better than Ventura was in his first full season, and the Mets could work towards locking him up on the cheap through arbitration and his first two years of free agency with a very similar deal. Syndergaard is only going to get better with more time in the big leagues, and locking him up now could turn into a huge bargain by the time 2020 rolls around. If any of the Mets young aces are going to get a contract extension, Syndergaard is the most likely, but it may not happen until after he has completed a full year in the Major Leagues.
Leave a Reply