The Mets -- what with their injuries up and down the lineup, below-.500 record and recent sweep at the hands of the rival Nationals -- could probably use a bit of baseball uplift right now. Said uplift comes in the person of their 24-year-old ace Noah Syndergaard. Please regard the following 2017 digits to date ... 

Noah Syndergaard
CLE • SP • #34
2017
IP26
GS4
ERA1.73
SO30
BB0
HR0
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Obviously, you see a lot of good things here -- a sub-2.00 ERA and no homers allowed, for instance. What really stands out is that Syndergaard, through four starts, has yet to walk a batter. That's good for any pitcher, and it's especially good for a pitcher who's striking out more than a batter per inning while dialing it up like this ... 

brooksbaseball-chart-ns-042317.jpg
Brooks Baseball

Syndergaard has always had elite velocity, but this year -- in keeping with his preseason stated intentions -- he has been on yet another level with the radar gun. After his four starts, his fastball is averaging 99.6 mph. Perhaps more astounding is that his changeup checks in at 91 and his slider at 93. 

So even though he's bringing that kind of heat, he has yet to walk a batter. He has also been in the strike zone a career-best 49.2 percent of the time this season, per FanGraphs (versus a league-average mark of 44.5 percent). Heck, Syndergaard has even drawn two walks at the plate while issuing zero on the mound. 

Anyhow, Syndergaard going 26 innings without walking a batter to start the season is already a franchise record for starting pitchers. Now, courtesy of the Baseball-Reference Play Index, let's take a look at the all-time list ... 

Rank

Starting pitcher

Year

Innings to start season without a walk

1.

Pete Alexander, Cubs

1923

51

T-2.

Tiny Bonham, Yankees

1944

33

T-2.

Babe Adams, Pirates

1920

33

T-4.

Tim Hudson, Giants

2014

30

T-4.

Babe Adams, Pirates

1923

30

T-6.

Joe Roa, Phillies

2002

29

T-6.

Adam Wainwright, Cardinals

2013

29

8.

Paul Byrd, Royals

2002

28 1/3

9.

Babe Adams, Pirates

1922

27 1/3

T-10.

Greg Maddux, Braves

2001

27

T-10.

LaMarr Hoyt, Padres

1985

27

T-10.

Red Lucas, Reds

1933

27

13.

Noah Syndergaard, Mets

2017

26

And there he is, within range of everyone ahead of him on the list except Ol' Pete at the top. Bring relievers into the mix and Syndergaard drops to 17th place all-time, but that's hardly a fair comparison (starters of course must deal with mounting fatigue, generally less favorable platoon matchups and batters getting multiple looks at them in the same game). 

In one rather meaningful way, though, Syndergaard has already made history. His 30 strikeouts without a free pass to start a season is a record since at least 1913 (the back end of searchable data). Only Wainwright, who struck out out 28 batters in those 29 innings listed above, comes particularly close.

As for Thor's chances of climbing higher on the list, his next scheduled start is Wednesday at home against the Braves. Thus far in 2017, Braves hitters rank last in the NL with 47 walks (and seven of those have been intentional). Fourteen of those walks belong to Freddie Freeman. So if Syndergaard is in a position to challenge the very dangerous Freeman each time up, then it stands to reason that he'll have a shot at pushing this streak higher. Command is an elusive thing, yes, but Syndergaard has had it in spades thus far in 2017. We'll see if he can continue owning the zone while also retiring so many hitters without the help of his defense.