How Mets plan to deploy Jonah Tong, Christian Scott toward end of 2027
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK — A season ago, Jonah Tong's meteoric rise was met with plenty of turbulence as he entered the fray for the Mets in the midst of a pennant race.
Tong, who would later be named the 2025 Minor League Pitcher of the Year by Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, could not replicate the same success at the major league level. The rookie right-hander was humbled by some rocky starts on his way to a 7.71 ERA in five starts down the stretch.
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A little more than a year since his debut, the 23-year-old will get another meaningful shot with the Mets, beginning with Monday's start against the Marlins at 1:10 p.m. at loanDepot Park in Miami.
"He’s learned a harder lesson but a more valuable one in the long run. He’s spent the bulk of this year recentering himself and finding himself," Mets interim manager Andy Green said. "I think the counsel is how do you make every circumstance serve your purpose and your purpose is to be the best pitcher you can possibly be. When you have the adversity you have here, you have to figure out how you stand on it to get to your next level of greatness."
There have been plenty of highs and lows along Tong's path back, and the young starter is hoping that all of the experiences he has had over the last 11 months since his debut can serve him well as he returns to the Mets' starting rotation.
Green said that the Mets' plan is to have Tong, the club's No. 5 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, in his first concrete major-league starting spot for the remainder of the season.
What has 2026 been like for Jonah Tong?
The adversity did not stop for Tong at the end of the 2025 season.
While the 23-year-old competed for a spot in the Mets' Opening Day rotation, he was sent to Triple-A Syracuse. At the All-Star break, he was 1-5 with a 6.00 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in 15 starts. He made three appearances with the major league club and saw mixed results, allowing four runs in 10 innings but walking seven batters.
"I believe I’m a better person. It’s honestly lived experiences," Tong said of where he is now compared to last year. "My mentors, my parents, everybody I’ve ever talked to is always just a boatload of life experience and that comes in different doses. I’d say I’m the same kid with the same dream as always. I just have more experience to rely on."
Since the All-Star break, Tong is 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA, 1.15 EHIP and 44 strikeouts in 41 innings. He believes he is in a better spot with his changeup and more comfortable deploying his cutter for strikes early in counts.
Now, he will get an opportunity to showcase his growth in a Mets uniform over the final three weeks of the season.
"There’s so many things that we have control over in our career and sometimes there’s just lessons that need to be learned," Tong said. "I’m just really excited to see the person I’ve become out of it. Honestly, at any other points in my career, just look back upon this year and see if I can find anything and just keep going."
How did Christian Scott fare on additional rest
With the playoffs slipping out of reach, the Mets are being careful with Christian Scott late in the season.
Scott, who is in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery late in 2024, went nine days without pitching as Mets leadership worked in extra rest. The 27-year-old right-hander used an additional bullpen session to fine-tune his arsenal.
In his first start back on Sunday afternoon, Scott opened with three perfect innings before giving up two earned runs on three straight hits in the fourth inning. He used his cutter to pick up three strikeouts, including two against Rafael Devers, and his split changeup for two more whiffs on his way to finishing with seven strikeouts.
"The cutters he threw to Devers were nasty. That's a guy who's about as hot as you can possibly be right now," Green said. "His fastball had life. First time the split change has really factored in consistently for him from a full arsenal perspective. Really, really good. And we curtailed his pitches a little bit today, coming off a long layoff."
Scott was pulled with two outs and two runners on base in the fifth inning as his pitch count swelled to 80 and Devers in the on-deck circle. It was a harsh reality for how the Mets are handling Scott down the stretch.
"I trust the plan that they set for me," Scott said. "I saw (Nate Lavender) coming in and he's been great this year too. Obviously getting a left-handed matchup, all the trust and faith in the world in him. But yeah, that would've been cool (to face Devers)."
Tobias Myers rejoins Mets bullpen
In his first game back from Triple-A Syracuse, Tobias Myers kept the Mets within striking distance against the top of the Giants lineup and ended up picking up his first victory of the season when Brett Baty and Bo Bichette put the Mets ahead with blasts to left field.
Myers used strikeouts against Drew Gilbert and Bryce Eldridge to work around a two-out infield single from Devers in the top of the eighth inning.
While Myers has experience starting, Green said that the Mets hope that a relief role where he can hold his velocity for about two innings could serve the right-hander well.
"The reality is whatever draws that velo out of him enables the (splitter) to play that much more," Green said. "If you’re thinking about it form a hitter’s perspective, if you have to gear up for velo, it’s really hard to stay on something that looks like velo and drops off the table. So that really sets him up for success."
Green said it seemed that Myers' velocity had tailed off later in his first major league stint this season when he allowed 17 earned runs in six appearances between May 26 and June 28 before being demoted.
Since August began in Triple-A Syracuse, Myers was 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 23 strikeouts in 21 innings.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: How Mets plan to deploy Jonah Tong, Christian Scott toward end of 2027