Less than two weeks ago, Jonah Tong was wearing a Toy Story-themed jersey in his final Double-A start with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. On Friday night in New York, making his MLB debut in the Mets’ black alternates, he earned a spot in a Major League starting rotation.
The buzz around the debut of a second top pitching prospect this month enthralled a sellout crowd of 42,112 at Citi Field. From his pregame walk from the Mets’ bullpen in right-center, through his six-pitch first inning and with each of his six strikeouts, the Mets’ faithful welcomed him as a savior to their club after stretches of poor pitching and a lethargic offense this summer.
He was every bit as advertised.
Tong threw five complete innings in his MLB debut, allowing four hits and one earned one. He struck out six. His ERA currently sits at 1.80. He was buoyed by the support of a Mets’ home game record 19 runs — a Mets record for a home game.
“Insane,” Tong said after the Mets’ 19-9 win over the Miami Marlins. “I mean, that’s everything I ever dreamed of as a kid growing up, and to see it unfold like that, it’s insane. That’s the only word I can really describe that.”
Jonah Tong’s ‘funky delivery’ wows Mets skipper
Tong’s Tim Lincecum-like delivery makes him tough to hit. He comes over the top and extends his frame. His fastball breaks more than 18 inches. This deception fools hitters.
“It’s a funky delivery,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He comes out over the top, and it’s kind of like crossfire, so he’s got a lot going on there, and you could tell hitters have a hard time picking it up.”
The 22-year-old required just six pitches to send down the top of the Marlins’ order in the first inning. Five of those were strikes. He recorded all three outs on three straight pitches.
His pitch arsenal includes a four-seam fastball — which touched the mid-to-high 90s on Friday — a changeup and a curveball.
Throughout his debut, Tong impressed with his ability to bounce back after falling behind early in the count. It was impressive, considering the rhythm of the first few innings often involved Tong getting three outs relatively quickly, then eagerly waiting as the Mets’ offense decimated the Marlins.
Overall, Tong was happy with his start. But he feels he has work to do — namely, managing the count.
“I think just some execution things,” he said. “There are some counts I stretched out, especially in the second, especially last inning too.”
In the second inning, he surrendered a leadoff double to Otto Lopez, who moved to third on a Liam Hicks groundout. Connor Norby worked him to a 3–1 count, but Tong fooled him with a changeup that landed just below the zone, then got him to line out.
The next batter, Troy Johnston, laid off a fastball in the dirt and an inside curveball. Tong evened the count with a swinging strike on a high fastball and a called strike on a changeup at the bottom of the zone. Johnston grounded out on a curveball that broke low.
“That curveball,” Mendoza said, “It was better than anticipated. Everybody talks about the fastball and the changeup, but the curveball, I was talking to Grayson Crawford, one of our pitching coordinators, and he said that today was probably the best curveball he’s seen him throw.”
Despite allowing a leadoff double, Tong did not allow the run to score.
Tong escaped a similar jam in the third. He allowed a leadoff single to Eric Wagaman, but struck out Joey Wiemer on three pitches — the first strikeout of his career — with a curveball that rose to the middle of the zone and dropped below the outside corner. He gave up a single to Xavier Edwards and fell behind 3–0 on Jakob Marsee, whilst allowing the runners to advance to second and third on a wild pitch. He struck him out with a fastball on the edge of the zone, then got Agustín Ramírez to ground out.
Following a 1–2–3 fourth, Tong conceded a leadoff single in the fifth to Johnston, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. He scored on a Wagaman RBI single. Two batters later, Edwards grounded into what should have been a double play, but New York’s middle infielders, Francisco Lindor and Brett Baty, failed to execute. Lindor was tagged with a missed catch error. Then, Marsee hit a ground ball off the cuff of Pete Alonso’s glove, allowing Wagaman to score. Alonso was charged with a fielding error. Edwards and Marsee, who moved into scoring position on the play, later scored. Neither was an earned run for Tong.
With his pitch count rising, Tong’s final hitter ended with a strikeout, as he sent down Hicks to end the inning.
Afterward, Mendoza confirmed that Tong had earned another start and would become part of a six-man rotation moving forward.
How did that sound to Tong?
“Sweet,” he said.
