Jonah Tong Is On a Mission
The Mets can't ignore what he's doing for much longer
You have to see Jonah Tong’s numbers to believe them.
After an eye-popping 13 strikeouts over 6 2/3 perfect – yes, perfect – innings for Double-A Binghamton on Saturday, Tong has 40 strikeouts over his past four starts. Those four starts covered 19 innings, meaning that Tong is averaging 18.9 strikeouts per nine innings over those games. He’s allowed two earned runs on eight hits over the stretch, and after two off-balance starts to open the year, his ERA has fallen with each start; it now sits at 2.57. He's done it with a fastball that opponents can’t touch, a curve that buckles knees and breaks hearts, and a changeup that, when he throws it just right, is utterly dastardly.
Just take a look at the tape.
Tong opens his start by blowing away the leadoff hitter with a 96 mph fastball. 17 seconds in, he strikes out his third batter of the game with a Bugs Bunny changeup that seems to stop for a moment on its way to the plate. Around 0:37, he dots the corner with a fastball moving away from the left-handed hitter. At 1:05, we see him blow away an opposing hitter with a fastball reminiscent of Addison Reed in 2016, the kind of pitch that, for whatever reason, just can’t be touched.
He picks up a few strikeouts by dropping breaking balls right on the outside corner to righties, and shows off a few more buzzing fastballs; he wraps up the sixth with an airbending slider for a swinging strike. It’s a mesmerizing, eye-popping performance; he simply looks too good for the opposition. I predicted before the season that by August 15, it would be a mainstream position among Mets fans that Tong should join the big league club. I think we’re right on track.
“Too good for this league.” That’s the text that Mets director of player development Andrew Christie received from Tommy Tanous, a Mets scout, during one of Tong’s final starts at Single-A St. Lucie last season. Sure enough, after not allowing a run at Single-A, Tong quickly moved up to High-A Brooklyn, where his ERA was 3.71; then he moved up again to Binghamton, where his ERA in two starts was 2.89. And now, he’s taking perfect games into the seventh inning and apparently only getting better.
According to MLB Pipeline, Tong is third best pitching prospect in the Mets’ system, sixth overall on the list. But with the way he’s throwing, six seems about five slots too low – and the Major Leagues don’t seem too far away.
For now, talk of a promotion is a tad premature. Tong is 21, and he’s made only eight starts (two in 2024, six this season) at Double-A. But with the numbers he’s putting up – 40 strikeouts over his last 19 innings! – it could quickly get difficult to justify keeping him at Binghamton. Tong looks like a man on a mission. A mission to make it impossible for the Mets to say no.
It’s not the most natural comparison, but watching Tong’s perfect start, my mind wandered back to watching Julio Rodríguez in Spring Training 2022. There was buzz, but it went in all directions. Rumors spread that Rodríguez was going to make the big-league club; counter-rumors quickly percolated that it would take a miracle. So Rodríguez decided to make his own miracle, batting .412/.487/.794 with four doubles, three home runs (including an inside-the-parker), and three steals in 14 spring games. At age 21, having never played above Double-A, he made the big-league club.
I’m no pitching guru. I can’t speak to Tong’s mechanics or spin rates. But what I can speak to is domination. As much as I hate to romanticize and succumb to raw emotion, what Tong is doing right now is more than pitch grips and induced vertical break (although it is that too). It’s heart. Lightning. Brute force and superior focus. Love of the game. The will to win. Wanting it more.
So what should the Mets do? Make him keep doing it – but not for much longer. If Tong keeps pitching like he has in his last four starts, he should be at Triple-A by the end of the month. If he keeps it up once he’s there, promotion to the big leagues should quickly enter the conversation. Tong is telling the Mets just how much he belongs in the Majors, and it shouldn’t take much more for the Mets to believe him.
In other words, the Mets should give Tong the ball and follow it wherever it goes. And if Tong pitches so well that they can’t justify saying no, all that’s left to say is yes.