Written by Matt Ehatt USAToday.com
As injuries picked off the Mets starting staff one by one last season, Noah Syndergaard emerged as the lone survivor among the team’s young group of aces.
His performance and those injuries made him the top choice for the Wild Card Game against the Giants, and also made it simple for Terry Collins to decide who will start opening day this year.
“It was the easiest one I’ve made in a while,” Collins said.
Syndergaard, 24, will make the first Opening Day start of his career when he faces Atlanta on April 3 at Citi Field. Syndergaard will be the team’s seventh different pitcher to start Opening Day in the past seven years, and will be the third-youngest in franchise history per the Elias Sports Bureau.
As Syndergaard earned the opening day start, Zack Wheeler took a step forward as he played catch Thursday and indicated to reporters he felt fine afterward. Wheeler, who experienced tenderness after his latest bullpen session, said his next bullpen will be Saturday or Sunday.
“It’s a huge honor, something I have been working for ever since I have been with the Mets, to be the Opening Day starter at one point,” Syndergaard said. “I am extremely thrilled that Terry has that confidence in me I am going to go out there and get the job done.”
Collins usually has waited toward the end of camp before announcing his starter, but the manager acted quickly this year and appointed Syndergaard even before the team’s first full squad workout. He wanted to get it out of the way to avoid it becoming a topic, and, frankly, there wasn’t much of a debate.
The manager’s process has always relied on how players performed the previous season, and he did not vary this year in choosing Syndergaard.
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