Noah Syndergaard's Comments Are a Tough Read for Dodgers Fans
The Dodgers are at a crossroads with Noah Syndergaard. And, after his latest outing where he struggled to keep runs off the board against the Nationals, it sounds like he's at a crossroads in his career.
It was another start where he looked lost at times and quite dejected on the mound. After allowing 5 earned runs on 7 hits and 3 home runs over 5 innings, he opened up to reporters about where he's at mentally.
"I want to go out there and compete and be successful for the other guys in this clubhouse, but it’s just not working out.”
This follows his comments from his previous start where he said he didn't have "a lot of positive emotion" when he thought about pitching.
Syndergaard is absolutely not in a good headspace right now. Whether that's directly due to his struggles this season (11 starts, 6.54 ERA) or because he doesn't throw 100 mile an hour gas anymore is the question.
Now, I don't want to pile on in this situation, but if he's pitching empty or sad or lifeless just because he doesn't throw hard anymore, he's got to get all the way over that. Learn to be a pitcher. He still has above-average major league stuff if he uses it right.
But if there's something beyond that mentally, then the Dodgers need to get him some help. A few weeks back Syndergaard talked about time spend with LA's mental skills coach and that they even tried hypnotizing the right-hander to try to unlock something. But it may need something a little more substantial than that to repair his broken mind, if it truly is broken.
And if he's that shot mentally, it would be unfair to him if the Dodgers were to keep running him out there and compounding the situation. If Syndergaard needs time to himself to get right, it's up to the Dodgers to honor that.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was non committal on whether Syndergaard would make his next start.
