Mets Option Jonah Tong to Triple-A Syracuse for Further Development

The New York Mets officially optioned right-hander Jonah Tong to Triple-A Syracuse on March 10, confirming what club officials had privately communicated to the 22-year-old at the start of spring camp: if the big-league rotation stayed healthy, he would likely begin the season in the International League.

The move was no surprise to Tong, but it underscored just how crowded the Mets' pitching situation has become. The club enters the final two weeks of Grapefruit League play with six healthy starters in camp: Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, David Peterson and Kodai Senga. A seventh option, Christian Scott, is also expected to factor into the mix at some point. The Mets plan to stretch all seven out over the remaining camp schedule and will likely open the regular season with a six-man rotation, leaving no room for a prospect still refining his secondary arsenal.

Manager Carlos Mendoza was direct about what comes next for Tong. "He's going to pitch for us," Mendoza said. "He's a big part of what we're trying to do here. Just go down there and continue to develop." Mendoza elaborated that the developmental focus centers on Tong's breaking pitches: "He's going to continue to work on his pitches, especially the secondary pitches."

That emphasis on the curveball and slider is deliberate. During his Major League debut last September, Tong threw both pitches only sparingly, and the results reflected it. He went 2-3 with a 7.71 ERA over five starts while pitching in the middle of a playoff race, a difficult assignment for any pitcher still finding his footing at the top level. His only Grapefruit League appearance this spring, on Feb. 25, yielded three runs over 2 2/3 innings.

The struggles at the big-league level stand in sharp contrast to what Tong accomplished in the minors. Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Mets' No. 3 prospect and No. 48 in baseball overall, he posted a 1.43 ERA across the top two minor-league levels last year after rising through three levels of the system. Selected by the Mets as a seventh-round pick in the 2022 amateur draft, the Canadian-born right-hander made the trek to Georgia Premier Academy and the MLB Draft League as a teenager to put himself on the radar. His slight frame and dramatic over-the-top delivery have long drawn comparisons to two-time NL Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum.

With 63 players still in big-league camp at the time of the transaction, roster decisions were accelerating across the board. For Tong specifically, the path back to Queens runs directly through Syracuse, where the Mets intend for him to sharpen the pitches that will ultimately determine how long he stays there.