5 recent NY Mets spring training injuries that derailed a player’s season

5) Noah Syndergaard

It’s easy to forget a lot of what happened in 2020 because of the worldly chaos we all endured. It was meant to be a promising year for the Mets who were coming off of a strong 2019 campaign where they finished only a few games shy of a Wild Card spot. Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, and Noah Syndergaard were going to anchor the rotation. We’d only get innings out of deGrom. In fact, we never saw much of Syndergaard ever again in Mets colors.

It was in the 2020 edition of Mets spring training when Syndergaard injured his UCL and required Tommy John surgery. A surgery that took place in late March right after the world shut down, and baseball along with it, would give Thor a chance to fully recover in time for a mid-2021 return if rehab went quickly. Sadly, all we got were a few glimpses late in 2021. Then poof! He was gone.

Syndergaard has never been the same since the surgery. Floating around with several different teams, it’s a cautionary tale for hard-throwers. We’ve seen it catch up to deGrom as well.

The 2020 Mets were mostly irrelevant because of several key players underperforming, particularly on the mound. In either case, a healthy Syndergaard for 2021 might have made a difference. His spring training injury didn’t just derail one year. It essentially shut down his whole career.