Back with 51s, Syndergaard has learned from challenging 2014 season

By Brian Deka

Wednesday, April 8, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas 51s pitcher Noah Syndergaard is hoping to join the New York Mets later this season.

He felt the same way last spring, but Syndergaard struggled for the first time as a professional and didn’t get called up to the major-league club when rosters expanded in September.

Syndergaard, 22, and his coaches in Las Vegas think this year will be different.

“He was a different kid coming into spring training this year,” 51s pitching coach Frank Viola said Tuesday during media day at Cashman Field. “Two things could have happened after last year. He could have regressed and just fallen off the face of the earth and said, ‘I can’t do this,’ or he could readjust his thought process and go on. And that’s what he did. … Now, it’s just keeping him healthy and keeping him out there.”

It’s not that Syndergaard’s 2014 was a disaster. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound right-hander out of Mansfield, Texas, led the Pacific Coast League with 145 strikeouts. He posted a 9-7 record with a 4.60 ERA in 26 starts.

“Really what we’re looking for is a little more consistency,” 51s manager Wally Backman said.

The 51s open the season Thursday on the road against the Fresno Grizzlies. The home opener, which will include fireworks, is April 17 against Fresno.

The PCL, where the league-average ERA was 4.63, is known for being tough on pitchers with teams in high-elevation cities such as Las Vegas, Reno, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque.

“It can be a challenge, but there are ways to handle it,” Syndergaard said. “If you pitch up in the zone, and you live in the middle of the plate, and you don’t change speeds, you give the hitter a little better opportunity to put the ball in play. A fly ball here can turn into a home run pretty easily. You’ve got to pitch at the bottom of the strike zone and manufacture ground-ball outs.”

Syndergaard, ranked by Baseball America as the Mets’ top prospect, allowed four earned runs and struck out nine batters in 7 1/3 innings during spring training in Florida.

“I feel like I threw the ball pretty well,” he said. “I learned a lot of things from pitchers like Bartolo Colon and Matt Harvey.”

If any of the Mets’ starting pitchers struggles or gets injured, Syndergaard could get called up to pitch in New York, where former 51s pitcher Jacob deGrom excelled and was named last season's National League rookie of the year.

“His time in Las Vegas could be brief depending on what happens at the major league level,” Backman said. “He has improved from the end of last season. To see what he did in spring training — as well as he did here last year — he’s much, much better.”

Syndergaard said he was disappointed about being sent back to Triple-A for more seasoning, but he understands that he still has things to work on. Last year, he said he sometimes worked too slowly — “especially with men on base,” Viola said.

Syndergaard, a first-round pick by Toronto in the 2010 draft, also will try to use his off-speed pitches more often to keep hitters off balance.

Viola said the challenges of last season will make Syndergaard better.

“What I think he needs to do right now is just learn from what he went through last year and don’t let that happen again,” Viola said. “Learn from your mistakes and keep going. His stuff plays. It’s just that he made the bad pitch at the wrong time last year. When he gets into that situation this year, he’ll know, 'OK, I did this last year; let’s do it the right way this year.’”

Brian Deka can be reached at 702-259-4073 or [email protected]. Follow Brian on Twitter at twitter.com/briandeka.