Jonah Tong’s strong finish with Mets a nice springboard into fight for 2027 rotation spot
Jonah Tong’s 2026 season didn’t quite go as planned. Tong continued to battle his way through those struggles, though, and began finding his groove down the stretch in the minor league season. Tong worked around trouble in the third, and held Washington just one walk and three hits.
Jonah Tong, the Mets' top-ranked pitching prospect, had a mixed 2026 season. After some struggles working through tweaks to his pitching mechanics, Tong's ERA was 5.27 over his first 22 outings. However, he rebounded late in the season, earning another call-up to audition for the rotation spot. Tong's strong finish was evident on Saturday against the Nationals, as he allowed just one run over five innings, striking out a career-high nine batters.
He managed one walk and three hits while holding Washington to just one hit. Manager Andy Green praised Tong's display, stating it was a great way to end his season, with his changeup and curveball both effective. Despite the rough start, Tong finished the campaign with a 2.36 ERA over his last eight appearances. Looking ahead to the spring training battle for the big-league rotation, Tong is eager to build on his late-season success.
"I'm not going to put pressure on myself," Tong said, "I'm up for the challenge -- I know where I'm at, I know what I need to do here -- that's the beauty of the offseason, I can just go out, compete, have fun, and let everything else take care of itself."
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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