Robert Stock to make another start for Mets

Tong looked extremely impressive in his final start of the year, generating an eye-popping 19 swinging strikes, while allowing just five baserunners and needing 87 pitches (52 strikes) to complete five frames. The former top prospect was cruising along early until a hit batter, a single and a wild pitch set up a sacrifice fly for Abimelec Ortiz in the third inning. He struck out Dylan Crews and CJ Abrams to escape the jam without any further damage. Simply put, it was the complete Tong experience wrapped into a single frame. The 23-year-old strikeout artist finishes the year with an encouraging 3.82 ERA, 1.24 WHIP and 34/14 K/BB ratio across 30 2/3 innings in the majors. Tong offers enough strikeout upside that he’s an interesting late-round lottery ticket in fantasy drafts next spring, assuming that he is given a real shot at winning a rotation spot out of camp.

Tong struck out five but walked four and threw just 61 percent of his pitches for strikes. He did post an 11 percent swinging strike rate, and all of his four-seamer, cutter, and curve showed the ability to miss bats. However, Tong fell behind in the count far too often due to four-seam command. He’s set up for another start next week against the Nationals, but his command issues will make him a risky fantasy option.

Stock had a 5.93 ERA in 30 1/3 innings for the Mets this season in eight appearances (seven starts). This injury will likely end his season.

Tong gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. He’s recorded 13 strikeouts in 11 innings over his two starts this year. Tong is still a risky proposition for mixed league fantasy managers, but at least offers some upside potential with his strikeouts. He’s lined up to face the Phillies at home this weekend.

One poor inning sunk Stock’s night here. He breezed through the first three innings before trouble found him in the fourth. To start the frame, he plunked Otto Lopez. Then, a walk and three singles brought home three runs and already at 80 pitches, Stock wouldn’t come back out for a fifth inning. He did allow nine hard-hit balls along the way too, so it wasn’t a bad spot to pull him. He’s scheduled to make another – likely abbreviated start – at home next week against the Orioles.

While the four runs on four hits is not ideal, three of those runs came on a home run by Graham Pauley in the second innings. Tong struck out seven on the day while walking only one and posting an 18 percent swinging strike rate. Tong threw 63 percent of his pitches for strikes, which is in line with what he’s done in his previous starts for the Mets, but his four-seamer got plenty of called strikes, which put him in good spots to get swinging strikes with his changeup and cutter. He’ll get a bit of a stiffer test next week against the Orioles.

Tong will make his first MLB start since June 3. It’s been a tough season for him in Triple-A. Tong has battled some issues with his command en route to a 4.54 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and 126/59 K/BB ratio in 107 innings at Syracuse. That’s a nearly 13 percent walk rate. We should note that he also has looked much better of late, posting a 0.84 ERA with 23 strikeouts over his last four starts. This is a nice landing spot for him, but he remains a risk in fantasy leagues because you are banking on small-sample command gains carrying over to the big leagues.

Tong will get the promotion to face the Fish in his first MLB outing since June 3. The talented right-hander has pitched well in the minors as of late, but doesn’t have much MLB success. It would be a high-risk, medium-high reward to use him in fantasy for this outing.

Tong was hit extremely hard in three starts for the Mets last year, but has always been able to miss bats at a rate that forces fantasy managers to pay attention. The 23-year-old prospect has put together a handful of encouraging starts at Triple-A Syracuse recently, allowing just two runs with a 23/10 K/BB ratio across 21 1/3 innings since August 11. It seems like a no-brainer for the Mets to give him a look down the home stretch with their playoff hopes basically nonexistent. It’s challenging to recommend Tong in shallow fantasy leagues given his wide range of outcomes, but he offers enough strikeout upside that he’s worthy of a speculative stash in deeper formats.

It’s highly unlikely any fantasy managers were trusting Stock in this spot after he was lit up for seven runs by the Brewers his last time out. He kept putting zeroes on the scoreboard against one of the more potent lineups in the American League in this one, allowing just six hard-hit balls with exit velocities over 95 mph, while scattering five singles in the process. He finished with four strikeouts and didn’t hand out a free pass, throwing 50 of 72 pitches for strikes. The 36-year-old journeyman isn’t overpowering, but he fills up the strike zone and has managed to avoid getting burned by the long ball. This was his first win since April 5, 2019. Seriously. He gets a favorable road matchup against the Marlins his next time out on Monday.