Mets ace right-hander Noah Syndergaard can only sit and watch as his team struggles through the first half of the season. The 2017 campaign has been a stark contrast to how many people originally thought the season would play out.
However, that doesn’t mean that he, nor the Mets, have given up on 2017 just yet.
“I feel like we’re going to turn things around here pretty soon, there’s a lot of season left,” Syndergaard told amNewYork Thursday at an event for Cholula Hot Sauce, promoting their new “Order of Cholula.”
Syndergaard is currently on the 60-day disabled list after suffering a torn lat in late April and isn’t expected to throw, let alone return, until well after next month’s All-Star break.
He is just one of several Mets pitchers out due to injury. That list includes Jeurys Familia, Seth Lugo, Steven Matz and Tommy Milone are also all on the disabled list, although Lugo and Matz are set to make their season debuts this weekend against the Atlanta Braves.
The stint on the DL is new for Syndergaard. Minus the occasional aches and blisters in the minors, he’s never taken a significant amount time off the mound.
“It’s kind of tough,” he said, “but it’s all about realizing what you can control, and I can’t control anything that happened in the past. I just have to learn from it, move on and make sure that it never happens again.”
The Mets are 2-4 in June, with their second win coming Wednesday in a visit to the Texas Rangers. At 25-32, they entered Thursday nine games out of the final wild-card spot and 11.5 behind the NL East-leading Washington Nationals.
Despite the struggles and injuries the Mets have suffered throughout the season, Syndergaard still thinks that they can flip the switch and shock everyone.
“We’ve always been down in the dumps and overcome even greater obstacles than where we’re at right now,” Syndergaard said. “We enjoy the challenge as a team to continue to improve, but we’re pretty confident that we’re going to turn things around.”
