Mets: Three Noah Syndergaard predictions for the 2021 season

Noah Syndergaard will come back and pitch well despite the time off.

After sitting out for an entire season plus, Thor will have to once again prove his god-like nature. For him, this will be especially important because his 2019 showing on the mound was not too great by his standards.

Coming into 2020 Noah was fired up to begin working and you just had a feeling something magical would happen. Unfortunately, he pushed his body too hard or the years of throwing nearly 100 mph caught up with him.

One thing that should tick back up is his fastball velocity. After a Tommy John surgery, it seems some pitchers come back better than ever, while others never regain form. For the ones that do come back, they generally throw harder and faster. You would think it would be the case for Noah, who’s velocity and strikeout rate have decreased a bit over the years.

If Mets can get around 20 starts from Syndergaard and he pitches to a 3.50 ERA or better, I’d say that’s a return to form. In 2019 he pitched to a 4.28 ERA and in 2018 it was a 3.03, splitting the difference would be great.

Then, you have to factor in the competition factor. We know what Jacob deGrom is. Marcus Stroman and Cookie Carrasco are being slotted in for starters two/three. David Peterson is the four and Joey Lucchesi is battling to secure that number five spot. So Syndergaard is going to have to come back, pitch well, and take someone’s spot.

There’s a chance that all of these pitchers are pitching fairly well too. Things will get tricky to make it work, but with injuries, these things always tend to work themselves out.