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Jonah Tong’s 2025 campaign was about as strong an advertisement for Triple-A baseball as one can make.
Tong absolutely eviscerated minor league competition last season. In 22 starts, he pitched to a 1.43 ERA with 179 strikeouts in 113.2 IP. Those eye-popping numbers were enough to earn Tong the Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year award, beating out a crop which included Blue Jays flamethrower Trey Yesavage, who put together a pair of double-digit strikeout performances in last year’s postseason. Nolan McLean didn’t have those kinds of numbers at the minor league level, nor did Brandon Sproat. Even the last generation of Mets aces (Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, and Zack Wheeler) didn’t dominate the minor leagues to that extent.
But after his promotion to the majors, it became apparent that Tong may have needed just a bit more time to develop. Both McLean and Sproat had at least 80 innings pitched at Triple-A. Tong didn’t even have 12. All but two of his scintillating starts came with Double-A Binghamton, and while he didn’t so much as allow a run in either start with Triple-A Syracuse, sometimes the value of the minor leagues is learning how to pitch without your best stuff, how to have a bad start and bounce back the next week, or simply how to compete in a league against hitters who will make better adjustments each time they face you.
Tong’s cup of coffee in the majors — which would more accurately be described as an emergency espresso shot for a deteriorating Mets pitching staff — yielded a 7.71 ERA. But that hasn’t seemed to zap anyone’s excitement about the 22-year-old fireballer, nor should it. Tong is still ranked as the No. 46 prospect in baseball according to MLB.com, and Amazin’ Avenue recently ranked him the organization’s No. 3 prospect behind McLean and Carson Benge. Plus, he certainly showed flashes of enormous potential in the big leagues — just a lack of consistency. In two of his five starts, he dominated by throwing at least five innings and allowing no more than one run. But in the other three starts, he simply couldn’t stop the bleeding, allowing a total of 15 runs in just 13 innings. Being able to make in-game adjustments and limit damage in those outings is exactly what Triple-A is for, no matter how good a player’s stuff is. And lucky for Tong, his stuff is exceptionally good.
In addition to giving us a sneak preview of Tong on the Citi Field mound, his stint in the majors last season gave us a closer look at just how elite his arsenal can be. According to Statcast, his lively four-seam fastball only drops 10.7 inches. Tong’s curveball, meanwhile, averaged a whopping 62.7 inches of vertical drop. That’s almost as much drop as Jose Altuve’s height. Weighted for velocity and extension, the vertical movement on Tong’s fastball and curveball would have both ranked first among all right-handed starting pitchers in the majors had he thrown enough to qualify. Then there’s Tong’s changeup, a pitch which yielded a .227 opponent batting average and 22.2% Whiff. This spring, he’s been working to further develop a cutter, an evolution of the slider that he’s previously thrown.
The pieces of the puzzle are all there. One day Tong will be able to fit everything together at the major league level, but for now, he’s still honing his repertoire, stamina, and command. Perhaps he’ll dominate out of the gate, and by mid-May the organization will feel he’s ready for another crack at The Show. Perhaps he’ll need to take one step back to take two steps forward, and we won’t see Tong again until late in the summer, if at all this season.
It’s easy to dream of the homegrown duo of McLean and Tong carrying the Mets to victory in 2026. While it’s unfair to put that kind of pressure on anyone, much less two players who have a combined 13 starts in the majors, at least McLean’s 2025 performance and minor league experience make such expectations a smidgen more realistic. Tong’s ceiling is still just as high as his Lincecum-esque armslot, but we shouldn’t expect him to grasp all of that potential in 2026. Patience is a difficult virtue to maintain in baseball, but when it comes to prospects, patience is sometimes a practical necessity.
If Tong displays more consistency in even just a handful of starts at the major league level in 2026, it will be a successful step forward for the young right-hander. For now, he should get the time he deserves to hone his craft in Triple-A before returning to the Big Apple.