Former Mets player who went from fan-favorite to villain is hoping for a 2025 comeback

The All-Star Break is always a good time for a “where are they now?” segment anywhere you look. Making the news hours before the Home Run Derby on Monday was former New York Mets fan favorite turned villain Noah Syndergaard. What is he up to?

According to Jon Heyman of the NY Post, the man we came to know as Thor hasn’t hung up his cleats yet. He’s planning on a 2025 return to the game.

Noah Syndergaard is hoping for a comeback in 2025

If athletes were given a scale of justice (you know, the ones with the dueling areas of weight) and on one side was results with the other being hype, Syndergaard’s would be weighed down much more in the latter. A big talker, a big game pitcher, and someone whose best years seemed to go by in a flash, he was never the same pitcher after returning from Tommy John surgery.

Syndergaard had a 47-31 record and 3.32 ERA in parts of six seasons with the Mets. In his two seasons without them, spent with four total teams, Syndergaard was 12-16 with a 4.96 ERA. More alarming than the ERA jump might be the nastiness of his stuff. He averaged nearly 10 strikeouts per 9 innings with the Mets. He punched out hitters at a rate of only 6.3 per 9 in 2022 and just 5.7 per 9 in 2023.

The basic idea of throwing Syndergaard into the bullpen and turning him into a stud reliever is one option, but maybe not the solution considering how much velocity he lost over the years. His four seamer was regularly averaging over 97 mph during his years with the Mets. In 2023, it dropped to 92 as did his dangerous sinker.

Rediscovering velocity will be a challenge for Syndergaard with a year away from competitive action and a bit older. A completely reinvigorated and reinvented version of him might be the only way he sticks around in the league much longer. Rather than try to replicate what Jacob deGrom did past 30, perhaps taking a page from what made R.A. Dickey, the man he was traded to the Mets for, could help out.

Syndergaard the knuckleballer? We could only dream to live in a wild world like this.

Syndergaard probably won’t land on the Mets’ wish list. His 2022 trolling of the team’s no-hitter, feud with SNY, and dodging of starts against his ex-ball club left a sour taste in our months. It all came after he hinted at accepting the qualifying offer only to flee to the Angels days later. We don’t begrudge him for doing so. However, we definitely view him differently as a result. He’s more Loki than Thor.