In hopes of expanding his arsenal, New York Mets starting pitcher Jonah Tong has added a cutter to his arsenal this offseason.
The 22-year-old right-hander threw his new pitch 18 times during his first outing of spring training on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Across 2.2 innings of work, he allowed three earned runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
The cutter averaged 91.6 mph and was put in play safely twice — a home run by Nolan Gorman and a single by Chase Davis in the third inning. It was his second-most-used pitch behind his four-seam fastball.
“It’s been one of those things that I just pride myself on using as much as possible,” Tong said of the cutter. “I think the value of live reps like this are probably the most important thing moving forward. So being able to take those and keep pushing, I think we’re in a really good spot with it.”
Tong begins spring training on the outside looking in at the Mets’ starting rotation, which already has six legitimate options in Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Clay Homes, David Peterson, Sean Manaea, and Kodai Senga. He was a late-season call-up last season as a part of David Stearns’ Hail Mary to save the season when the starting rotation imploded. In five starts, he went 2-3 with a 7.71 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 18.2 innings pitched.
This is the first time that he is in big-league spring training after beginning last season with Double-A Binghamton. He made just two Triple-A starts before getting the call to the majors.
“Other than pitching in a stadium, it’s a lot of fun to be able to pick the brains of people I normally wouldn’t have access to… be able to share those locker room conversations and build those relationships,” Tong said. “That’s the most important thing coming out of this. I could have a perfect spring, and everything goes great on the field, but if I can focus on things off the field, I think that can help me moving forward a lot.”
For more on Jonah Tong and the Mets, visit AMNY.com
