Dodgers: Noah Syndergaard 'Wants to Dominate' and Believes LA Can Help
Your Los Angeles Dodgers will be without some significant starting arms this season. Ace Walker Buehler will likely miss the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery, and they lost lefty Tyler Anderson to the Anaheim Angels.
The Dodgers rotation will still be one to reckon with, and a part of that has to do with free-agent signing pitcher Noah Syndergaard.
The right-handed pitcher spoke with USA Today’s baseball columnist Bob Nightengale and told him he could be just as good as he has been in the past, maybe even better.
“I feel completely different. Just being here, this aura, this vibe, this kind of swagger with the culture, it inspires all of us.’’
“The Dodgers are the best at player development and turn guys around. I know I have a lot left in the tank, and there’s a lot to unlock. Last year, I went out and competed by most standards, but it wasn’t up to my standard of performance. I want to dominate, not just get by. I want to thrive, not just survive.”
Thor is only 30 years old and has been good when he is healthy, and last season he was formidable playing an entirely healthy season for the first time since 2019.
In 2020, Noah suffered a Tommy John injury and missed considerable time with a partially torn lat muscle in 2017 and a strained ligament in his right index finger in 2018.
All that seems to be behind him, and he will look to have an incredible 2023 campaign.
An organization like the Dodgers can have you feeling like you pressed the restart button, and the Dodgers have a track record of reviving pitchers’ careers.
For example, Tyler Anderson was named an All-Star in 2022 after mediocre seasons in years past. Another example is Rich Hill; Hill was out of the league, landed in LA in 2016, and helped lead them to an NL West title. The lefty ended up playing three-plus seasons in LA and was a constant fixture in the rotation totaling 30 wins in Dodger blue.
Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior has the Midas touch, and I’m betting he’ll do the same with Syndergaard.
I think this may turn out to be LA’s best off season acquisition, huge upside potential. I’m looking for a “Thormendous” season from the righty.
Rich Hill isn’t a great example since he figured his stuff out with Boston in 2015 before going to the A’s and then being traded to the Dodgers. Mark Prior wasn’t even on the staff until 2018. If you want examples of pitchers the Dodgers have turned around under Prior, then you could use Anderson, Heaney, Almonte, Phillips, Martin, Nelson, Treinen, McGee and Hudson.