Noah Syndergaard: 'I want to be a Met for life. I love it'
Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard said he wants "to be a Met for life."
By
Mike Axisa
•
2 min read
Although they fell short in the World Series, the Mets just wrapped up a wildly successful season in which they won the NL East and the NL pennant. Disappointing finish, sure, but a great year nonetheless.
That success was thanks to large part to the team's young pitching. Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom were in the Opening Day rotation, and later in the season they were joined by hard-throwing Noah Syndergaard, who was part of the postseason rotation.
Syndergaard, 23, went 9-7 with a 3.24 ERA (114 ERA+) in 24 starts and 150 regular season innings, earning him a fourth place finish in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. Earlier this week, he told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News that he loves New York and wants to be a Met for life.
“When I came here for the (2013) Futures Game we went to Times Square and I thought it was amazing. Being from a small-town I’d never seen anything like it and I wanted to come back,” Syndergaard said. “Now, I’ve had a chance to broaden my horizons from Time Square and explore more of the city.”
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“I love it here,” Syndergaard said by phone Thursday. “I had some time after the season and I wanted to just experience all I could of it. I wanted to do things I couldn’t do in the season and I am having a lot of fun.”
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“I want to be a Met for life,” Syndergaard said. “I love it.”
Syndergaard is from Mansfield, Texas, which the internet tells me is a suburb of Dallas with a population of about 56,000. So it's not a small small town, like a one traffic light town, but it's not New York either.
Since the end of the World Series, Syndergaard has been spotted all over New York, mostly at sporting events. It seems like he's going to spend at least part of his offseason in the city rather than head home to Texas.
I'm certain Mets fans want Syndergaard -- and Harvey and deGrom and Steven Matz -- to be a Met for life, but there's no need to worry about his contract status yet. He can't become a free agent until after the 2021 season.
The Mets originally acquired Syndergaard from the Blue Jays in the R.A. Dickey trade.
