Will the Royals struggle against the Mets’ flamethrowers?

By Oct 25, 2015, 8:25 PM EDT
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MLB.com’s Mike Petriello crunched some numbers and found that the Royals have struggled against high-velocity fastballs. The Royals hitters’ collective strikeout rate against fastballs in the 91-96 MPH range sat just above 10 percent, but rose to near 25 percent against 97-99 MPH fastballs and nearly 35 percent against 100+ MPH fastballs.

According to MLB.com’s Statcast, Mets starter Noah Syndergaard has already thrown 16 pitches during the post-season that registered at 100 MPH or faster. His fastball has averaged 98.5 MPH. Teammate Jacob deGrom‘s fastball has averaged 96.3 MPH and Matt Harvey‘s has come in at 95.7 MPH. Closer Jeurys Familia is no slouch either, averaging 96.3 MPH.

As this post-season has shown, things rarely go as they’re predicted. The trends show that the Royals could have their hands full with the Mets’ pitchers, but they have made a habit out of proving everyone wrong for going on two seasons.

Dodgers place pitcher Noah Syndergaard on injured list with no timetable for return

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 9:19 PM EDT
dodgers syndergaard
Katie Stratman/USA TODAY Sports
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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”