Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Reveals Biggest Point of Struggle for Noah Syndergaard

The Dodgers officially placed Noah Syndergaard on the injured list last Thursday after a historically bad start to his Dodgers career. There is no timetable for his return and the lasting image of him was him allowing six runs over three innings against the Cincinnati Reds. His ERA ballooned to 7.16, which is highest in baseball for pitchers with as many innings as he has pitched (55.1)

Dave Roberts has been consistent in his comments about Syndergaard and that they would take things day by day with no promises. After this last outing, Roberts spoke about what he thinks has gone wrong for the veteran pitcher.

“I don’t think that he embraced whatever version was there,” Roberts said, “in the sense that, at one point, I think he was really dead-set on chasing velocity and getting back to that person who can throw the ball 100 mph, and then I think there was some resolve to commanding the baseball, increasing movement, and then he went back to kind of wanting to get some more velocity.

Via MLB.com

You could make the argument that part of the issue for Syndergaard has been a lingering blister injury, that he will let heal now since he is on the injured list. But another factor is that his velocity is nowhere near what it once was. This season, his fastball is averaging just 92.4 mph, which is over four mph lower than his career average. 

The struggles have taken their toll on Syndergaard as well. He has spoken about how he would give his hypothetical first born child just to be able to perform as he used too, when he was referred to as Thor. Those are strong words coming from the former All-Star.

“I think with Noah, the physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” manager Dave Roberts said. “So the ability to get him away from this — he left today to go back to Los Angeles — you know, to kind of get back, get back to normalcy. … I think for me it’s just kind of a reset, and we’ll see where we go from there.”

The hope is that Syndergaard gets a break to allow the blister to heal and he comes back with a fresh start. The Dodgers believed that they could fix something in Syndergaard but so far, the plan hasn’t come to fruition. 

The team has dealt with a ton of injuries this season and Syndergaard is just the next one on the list. The Dodgers expect him to come back at some point but who knows if there will be room for him, whenever that is. Luckily for the team, they do have some young arms that they can call up in the meantime but the struggles of Syndergaard do leave his future with the team in question.