Tong struggles with command in loss to Phillies

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 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.

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.

The 36-year-old hurler was lit up for seven runs on 10 hits and a pair of walks over four innings against the Brewers on Wednesday, so there were obvious concerns over whether or not he’d get a chance to take the ball again. Green noted that the team is monitoring their options in the minor leagues, specifically Jonah Tong, who will make at least one more start at Triple-A Syracuse before rosters expand for September.

All five hits Tong allowed were home runs, which is pretty amazing but certainly not what you’re looking for. Most of the home runs he gave up were on poorly located pitches that landed far too close to the middle of the plate. Command has been a huge issue for Tong this season, and the 23-year-old has posted a 5.46 ERA in Triple-A. It’s also come at the worst time, as the Mets could really use some help in the rotation.

The New York Post’s Jon Heyman says it’s a hip issue, and it’s supposed to be relatively minor. Jonah Tong could be recalled to fill in for him. Kodai Senga was expected to make another rehab start, but he could be activated early.

Tong had two good outings after first being called up from Triple-A, but he really struggled on Tuesday, allowing five runs (four earned) in 3 1/3 innings against the Mariners. The 22-year-old struggled with walks in Triple-A this year and also walked seven batters in 10 innings since being called up. He’ll continue to work on his command down in Triple-A, with the Mets likely getting Kodai Senga (back) back in the rotation next week.