Mets Make Decision on Jonah Tong

This move should not come as much of a surprise, considering that Tong delivered mixed results when the Mets called him up to the major leagues towards the end of last season. New York's rotation is also all but set with Opening Day nearly two weeks away.

The 22-year-old appeared in two games for the Mets this spring, with the first one coming against the St. Louis Cardinals on February 25. Tong's only blemish in that outing was allowing a three-run homer against Nolan Gorman during his 2.2 innings of work on three hits, one walk and three strikeouts.

Tong's second appearance of the spring was much more encouraging, allowing one earned run on five hits with three strikeouts over 2.2 innings pitched against Team Nicaragua on March 3.

Since the start of spring training, the Mets' young flamethrower has made working on his cutter a top priority, which he thought worked very effectively during his outing against Nicaragua. Tong is looking to add that pitch to his repertoire to go along with his four-seamer fastball, changeup, curveball and slider.

This was Tong's first go around in Mets camp after not making the big league camp last season. But after dominating in the minor leagues last year, the Amazins' called up Tong towards the end of August. In 22 starts with the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies and the Triple-A Syracuse Mets, the righty was absolutely sensational, logging a 10-5 record with a sparkling 1.43 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and a minor league-high 179 strikeouts.

As already mentioned, Tong delivered mixed results at the major league level. He posted a 2-3 record in five starts with a 7.71 ERA, 22 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.77 across 18.2 innings of work, making the Mets' decision of optioning Tong to Triple-A not a huge surprise. Another intriguing pitching prospect, Christian Scott, is also expected to begin the year in Triple-A; Scott missed all of last season after recuperating from Tommy John surgery.

With Tong and most likely Scott officially not in New York's rotation plans at least for the start of the season, the Mets will have Freddy Peralta (their Opening Day starter) and Nolan McLean man the top of their rotation with David Peterson, Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga and Clay Holmes comprising the rest of the unit.

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