After Stellar Video Emerges, Could Syndergaard Be Fit for Washington Nationals?
The Washington Nationals appear set to head to spring training with a young rotation anchored by MacKenzie Gore and augmented by a pair of veterans — Michael Soroka and Trevor Williams.
But, in the Majors, there is no such things as having enough pitching.
The Nationals haven’t had a winning season in five years and have back-to-back 71-win seasons. As a result, fliers, sometimes, can be taken.
Perhaps one on a pitcher like Noah Syndergaard, a former NL East rival who is out of work.
The 32-year-old didn’t pitch anywhere last season and teams appeared to leave him alone after two sub-par seasons. Now, he appears to be back in the pitching lab and working toward trying to interest any team in a contract for the 2025 season.
The New York Post's Dan Bartels posted this video of Syndergaard throwing during a workout that Syndergaard posted to Instagram.
No downside to a spring training invite. Noah Syndergaard, 32 — why not?
— Dan Bartels (@DanBartels2) January 31, 2025
Could be a great bullpen piece — or 6th starter.pic.twitter.com/pt0t4DSvul
Other videos show him working out with weights as late as Dec. 30. He appears to be primed to attempt a comeback.
Would the Nationals bite?
His recent track record would probably scare off most teams. But Washington has less to lose here. They’re in the market for as much pitching as they can find. The team has expressed happiness with re-signing Williams and optimism that Soroka can reclaim his effectiveness as a starting pitcher.
But if Syndergaard can be anywhere in the neighborhood of the pitcher he was a decade ago, he could be a candidate to start or even to help the Nats in the bullpen, where they don’t have a designated closer and could use another arm.
There was a time he was one of baseball’s most exciting pitchers and that overlapped with breaking into the Majors with the New York Mets in 2015. In a five-year stretch, he helped the Mets reach a World Series, finished fourth in NL rookie of the year voting and made the 2016 All-Star team.
From 2015-19 he went 47-30 with a 3.31 ERA with 775 strikeouts and 166 walks.
But the 2020 season was a line of demarcation in his career. He tore the UCL in his right arm, needed Tommy John surgery and didn’t pitch again until 2021, when he made two starts at the end of that season.
Since then, he’s pitched for four other teams, as he’s gone 12-16 with a 4.96 ERA with 151 strikeouts and 50 walks in 223.1 innings.
Syndergaard didn’t pitch anywhere in 2024. It looks like he’s looking for a job this year, and only time will tell if the Nats decide to take a look.
