Tong Using Spring to Work on Cutter, Change-Up

Jonah Tong fell behind hitters and gave up a home run for the second straight spring start Tuesday, but the results may be less important than what he learned throwing his pitches, especially the cutter and change-up.

“I think there’s some definitely, like some things I was really happy about,” he told reporters after the Mets beat Team Nicaragua 6-3 in an exhibition at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie. “I thought the cutter was really good today. I got some swing and miss on it and also filled up the zone with it pretty good … I thought I found my change-up, which was nice. I didn’t have that last outing so I’m really happy about that.”

Tong went 2 2/3 innings, gave up one run on five hits, struck out three and didn’t walk anyone. He fired off 20 cutters after tossing 18 in his last outing. He threw 34 of his 54 pitches for strikes and gave up the homer to Freddy Zamora, a 26-year-old who posted a .701 OPS at Triple-A Nashville (Brewers) last season. He also gave up a single to center to Team Nicaragua’s Mark Vientos.

“I thought this outing he used that cutter a lot, which is a pitch that he’s working on,” manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters. “It came and went, but he kept going to it. I thought he threw some change-ups. Yeah he fell behind hitters a few times but again I think it came down to using the pitches that he’s working on.”

After the game, Will Sammon of The Athletic reported that the Mets are renewing Tong’s contract at the league minimum ($780,000) after failing to reach a deal on his salary for this season. The Mets wanted to pay Tong $1,000 more than the minimum, but that offer was rejected. Clubs sometimes pay pre-arbitration eligible players more than is required to set a good tone for future contract talks.

The renewal doesn’t necessarily mean anything either way, Sammon reported, pointing out that the Mets renewed Jacob deGrom‘s contract in 2016.

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