Jonah Tong finds himself back in a position all too familiar to opposing batters.
The Mets' No. 2 prospect racked up eight strikeouts to move back atop the MiLB leaderboard and yielded two runs -- one coming after he departed -- in five-plus frames for Triple-A Syracuse which lost to Rochester, 7-5, on Friday night at NBT Bank Stadium.
Tong took a one-hit shutout into the sixth but departed after surrendering a leadoff homer, followed by a walk, which came around to score after he left the game. Still, his eight punchouts give him 52 on the season, two more than rookie sensation Seth Hernandez (PIT No. 2/MLB No. 21) has collected at Single-A.
MLB's No. 39 prospect hit 97 mph on the radar gun and topped 95 on 17 occasions. He averaged 95.1 mph on the 38 fastballs he threw. Tong also relied heavily on his changeup (26.6 percent) and his cutter (18.1 percent), his newest offering he's been incorporating into his repertoire since Spring Training.
COMPLETE METS PROSPECT COVERAGE
While walks continue to conspire against Tong from working deeper into games, he remains one of the Minors' hardest pitchers to hit. The 22-year-old allowed a leadoff single in the second and nothing else until Christian Franklin (WSH No. 18) took him deep.
In between, Tong retired 11 of 13, striking out the side in the fifth. After allowing Franklin's homer, the Toronto-born right-hander got ahead of the next batter 0-2, but lost him to his fourth walk, prompting his removal after a season-high 94 pitches (52 strikes).
Tong generated 13 whiffs on 37 swings (35.1 percent) and lowered his opponents' batting average against to .178. The 2022 seventh-rounder has surrendered three runs (two earned) on three hits with 14 K's across 11 innings in his past two starts.
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Tong lowered his ERA to 4.01, down nearly three runs since it spiked to 7.04 after a rough outing against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on April 14. Since that time, the 6-foot-1, 180-pounder has a 2.57 ERA and a 29/11 K/BB ratio in 21 frames spanning four starts.
Tong's reemergence after a rough start has given Syracuse a dynamic 1-2 punch atop its rotation. Fellow righty Jack Wenninger (NYM No. 6) has been one of the best starters in the Minors through the first six weeks. The 24-year-old leads all qualified Triple-A hurlers with a 1.27 ERA after spinning six scoreless frames on Wednesday.