Jonah Tong is developing a new weapon
Plus, Nolan McLean is feeling better, and a key update on Francisco Lindor
The Mets beat Team Nicaragua in a pre-WBC exhibition, 6-3 (box)
RHP Jonah Tong made his second start of the season, surrendering five hits and a homer while striking out three in his 2.2 innings of work
2B Marcus Semien was active on the base paths, turning a double and a walk into two runs
3B Bo Bichette also got in on the scoring action, driving in a run with a double of his own
LF Chris Suero hit his second homer of the spring in the eighth inning
Luis García, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams combined for three hitless innings, with Williams striking out all three batters he faced on just 11 pitches
LHP Jefry Yan secured the save with a three-strikeout scoreless ninth inning
The Mets and Jonah Tong were unable to agree to a new salary for 2026, so the Mets simply renewed his contract from 2025 for $780,000 (Athletic)
Mets in the WBC 🌏
Tuesday, March 3:
Juan Soto shined for the Dominican Republic in their exhibition matchup against the Tigers, going 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI
Huascar Brazobán was also excellent for the D.R., striking out both batters he faced
Mark Vientos singled and struck out against the Mets in Port St. Lucie
Schedule | Standings | Scores
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP Nolan McLean (ear infection) is feeling better, will pitch today in Port St. Lucie, and if all goes well will join Team USA later this week for the WBC
SS Francisco Lindor (recovery from hand surgery) played catch earlier this week and could progress to swinging a bat today
What I’m Reading 📰
Five under-the-radar Mets prospect breakout candidates (The Athletic)
Meet the Mets’ new Double-A hitting coach, Rachel Folden (NY Post)
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
In a brand new episode, Rich and Andrew react to six big spring training headlines and share an exciting update about the future of the podcast.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Today’s Game 🏝️
Match-up: Mets (5-3) vs. Team Israel
Where: Clover Park - Port St. Lucie, FL
Starters: LHP David Peterson (0-0) vs. TBD
When: 1:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: N/A
Jonah Tong’s got a new cutter! ✍️
Mariano Rivera. Roy Halladay. Jim Abbott.
Jonah Tong?
As I’m sure you’ve heard, Tong has been developing his cutter, and the Mets’ young stud has been throwing it a lot early in camp.
It’s not just him — the cutter appears to be a popular pitch at Mets camp this year, with both Devin Williams and Luke Weaver also reportedly working on their offerings as well.
The main reason for the fixation on this pitch for Tong is to make him less predictable. Though he absolutely dominated the minor leagues last season, he didn’t fare as well in the bigs, operating as a near-90% fastball-changeup guy with some breaking stuff thrown in the mix.
Big league hitters caught onto that very quickly. His fastball may have gotten him 15 strikeouts last season, but opponents also slugged .600 off it. His changeup, though effective, wasn’t lethal enough to make up the difference, and his curveball wasn’t anywhere near the whiff machine it was in the minors (though it was still his biggest swing-and-miss generator.)
Heading into 2026 and with a permanent MLB call up on the horizon, it was essential that Tong do something to switch up his pitch mix. Though his stuff plays in extremes all over the strike zone, he was missing a pitch that would help keep hitters off-rhythm with minimal risk of its shape or cadence becoming predictable. Hence, the cutter.
Tong barely threw his cutter in the minors last year, and when he did, it didn’t serve him well. It had almost no movement, essentially sitting in the zone as a more hittable version of his fastball, yielding an xSLG of .755 and an xwOBA of .461 — brutal. Initially, we saw the same results on display when he broke it out for the first time this spring.
However, looking at the pitch movement data between his two starts so far this spring, Tong has done a lot to improve this pitch in virtually no time. In his preseason debut, Tong’s cutter moved even less than his four-seam, generating 15 inches of induced vertical break (iVB) and just one inch of glove-side horizontal run. In yesterday’s appearance, the pitch had a flatter vertical profile but more lateral action, with +8 iVB and four inches of glove-side run.
This latest data is an observed movement profile that’s comparable to none other than Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s cutter:
Yamamoto’s cutter averaged +7.5 iVB and 3.8 inches of glove-side break last year, taking a very similar overall path to the plate as Tong’s. Though not identical pitches, looking at these charts side by side gives you an idea of both how subtle the movement on this pitch can be and how many different attack angles can be taken alongside the rest of a developed arsenal.
The biggest differences between these two pitches (other than talent and experience) are the arm slot and spin rate, both of which significantly influence the movement of a pitch. The reason I’m putting these two charts side by side isn’t to suggest that Tong is suddenly developing a Yamamoto-level toolkit just yet; rather, it’s to highlight just how quickly this particular branch of his talent tree is growing.
Last year, Tong went on an episode of the Meet at the Apple podcast to discuss some tinkering he’d been doing with his changeup. He discussed how shifting his grip to sit the ball more naturally in his hand helped the pitch find the right spin, and it seems we’re seeing a similar effect early on here.
Granted, we’ve got just two starts’ worth of data, but the early feedback is exciting. Though such sharp jumps in efficiency are more to be expected in the modern era of pitching science, especially with a lab as advanced as the Mets’, it’s encouraging to see Tong implement pitch shape/grip adjustments so quickly and effectively. A pitch with zero whiffs a week ago generated a 50% whiff rate yesterday and was responsible for two of Tong’s three strikeouts.
On the surface, it seems the biggest difference between each start’s respective cutter comes down to velocity. In his first start, Tong threw it slightly slower than his fastball, which has averaged 94 mph in each outing. The pitch’s spin rate held steady at 2100 RPM, but its relatively high velo meant it didn’t have enough flight time for its spin to generate much deviation; that’s why it was getting hit around so much. Yesterday, Tong dropped his cutter delivery all the way down to 87 mph…that makes a massive difference in pitch shape. That slower arrival in the zone means there’s more time for movement to happen, disrupting hitter timing while also tailing off at the very end of its path.
Sure, we’ve seen Tong throw less than 40 of these pitches so far, but the rapid development is something to pay attention to. He’s demonstrated an ability to turn average pitches into plus-offerings before, and has consistently reworked his pitch mix over the last two seasons to maximize his effectiveness at each talent level. Having a legitimate fifth pitch to mix in at the top of the zone that works away from the fastball and over the slider will only make his bag that much deeper, and thus that much harder for hitters to figure out.
Around the League 🚩
OF/DH Jurickson Profar tested positive for PEDs for the second time; he will be suspended for the entire 2026 season, postseason, and WBC (MLB.com)
Phillies OF Johan Rojas also tested positive for PEDs and is facing an 80-game suspension (The Athletic)
Team USA debuted in their exhibition against the Giants; they won 15-1
Tong making the adjustment to his cutter by taking a little off is a really, really positive sign.
I'm sorry, but I'm not so optimistic about Tong. He hasn't given me a good feeling in his two starts. And the comparison with McLean is very painful...