MLB: New York Mets at Kansas City Royals

Noah Syndergaard and the Audacity of Velocity

The last decade of baseball has been marked by an inescapable arms race: The need to find pitchers that throw hard, harder and even harder, still. The signs are evident everywhere, both anecdotal and empirical. Staffs are stocked with pitchers who can turn hitters into cannon fodder. The average fastball velocity has risen–almost linearly–from 90.1 […]

MLB: New York Mets at Kansas City Royals

Game recap April 5: Syndergaard deals, Walker homers in 2-0 win over Royals

In a Sentence: Noah Syndergaard unleashed his shiny new hammer of a slider and the Mets won 2-0. A 95 MPH…Slider? The Royals didn’t get multiple runners on base until the sixth inning. With the crowd revved up, Syndergaard threw four straight balls for his only walk of the afternoon. It felt like we were […]

MLB: Spring Training-St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets

Hot Takes: Our Boldest Mets Predictions for 2016

Ain’t nothing like a hot take. It’s what makes the sports-industrial complex go–the ultimate expression of our tendencies toward hyperbole, contrarianism, and creativity. While in many cases, the needless hot take can be a thing that frustrates us, we here at BP – Mets enjoy the occasional bold opinion or projection. (Plus, we try to […]

MLB: Spring Training-St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets

A Mightier Thor

A year is a long time in baseball. A year ago PECOTA projected the Royals to win 72 games. Clayton Kershaw was the best pitcher in baseball. Mike Trout was the best player in baseball. Okay, so maybe it’s not that long. At first glance, Noah Syndergaard, the young Met pitcher nicknamed “Thor,” didn’t change […]