Mets RHP Noah Syndergaard is reporting to spring training on Wednesday in order to "get settled in and hit the ground running," he said Monday during an appearance on Power Lunch on CNBC.
Asked about the situation that led to the Mets parting ways with Carlos Beltran before quickly hiring Luis Rojas, Syndergaard spoke on the "couple of wild months in baseball," but said he's been "trying to kind of stay away from it and keep focused on my offseason training and making sure my body is in the best possible shape for me to compete."
Still, Syndergaard gave his thoughts on Rojas. And they sounded similar to thoughts on Rojas that have been given by many of Syndergaard's teammates.
"I'm really excited Luis got the job," Syndergaard said. "He's been with the organization a long time. He's the kind of guy you want to go out there and give your all for. He's an absolute freak in the weight room, too, so it's really cool to be able to see."
The 27-year-old Syndergaard, who had a down (for him) season in 2019 as he struggled with his slider, is expected to be part of a Mets rotation that should also include Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman, Rick Porcello, and Steven Matz.
While Syndergaard had a 4.28 ERA in 2019, his FIP (3.60) and other advanced numbers suggested that his struggles were an aberration. And ZiPS recently projected a bounceback for 2020.
ZiPS projects Syndergaard to have a 3.33 ERA while striking out 9.5 batters per 9 this season. That would mean an ERA improvement of nearly a full run from 2019 and Syndergaard having his best strikeout rate since 2017.