Giant Dutch- and/or Danish- and/or Texan-American Noah Syndergaard is at this moment making his major-league debut for the New York Mets in Chicago. One thing he’s exhibited with considerable frequency over the course of his inaugural start is a fastball at ca. 94-98 mph. Another thing is what Branch Rickey would probably have referred to as “hella moxie” were he (a) still alive and also (b) a resident of California’s Bay Area for some reason.
The purpose of this post is to address neither of those qualities, but rather to document Syndergaard’s first memorable curveball — with which curveball he struck out Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro for the second out in the second inning.
Here, for the benefit of the reader, is action footage of that curveball in real time:
Here’s other action footage of that pitch, except in slow motion:
And here, finally, is very slow motion of this important moment:
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Oh god, that curve. It’s just…beautiful.
That spin-rate tho
#thorporn
Watching last night’s game I thought about Bryant and Syndegaard both being born in 1992. I’m beginning to think this might end up being one of the most productive birth years ever. Here are just a dozen of the guys born in 1992:
Bryce Harper
Manny Machado
Kris Bryant
Mookie Betts
Joc Pederson
Jorge Soler
Xander Bogaerts
Javier Baez
Jose Fernandez
Noah Syndegaard
Carlos Rodon
Taijuan Walker
I don’t know if anyone’s looked at this historically, but there’s some super talent there.
Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Ernie Banks, Ken Boyer, Jim Bunning, and Larry Jackson were all born in 1931. Most of the guys you listed haven’t even played one season yet. And one of them is Javier Baez.
Maybe slow down on the “best ever” stuff.
clown comment, bro.
but yeah, completely agree with the clown.
Also, I was born in 1992. Based on Javier Baez’s short track record, you might want to consider swapping him with me.
A fine maneuver!
Boy, what an aggitatin’ curveball!