NEW YORK (AP) Mets star pitcher Noah Syndergaard will be sidelined through at least the Major League Baseball All-Star break because of a torn muscle behind his right arm.
The hardest-throwing starting pitcher in MLB with an average fastball velocity of 98.1 mph (157.8 kph) this year, Syndergaard partially tore his latissimus dorsi against Washington last Sunday.
The 24-year-old right-hander has been told not to throw for about six weeks and he will need a long period to build up arm strength again, equivalent to a full spring training.
”It stings,” Syndergaard said Saturday, two days after he was examined in Los Angeles.
Syndergaard was scratched from an April 27 start against Atlanta with what the Mets said was biceps and shoulder discomfort. He pitched April 30 at Washington, lasted just 1 1/3 innings and went on the 10-day disabled list the following day.
”I don’t regret it at all,” he said. ”I threw a bullpen two days prior and I felt great, ready to go. Just something weird happened.”
Syndergaard threw a 2-1 changeup to Bryce Harper and immediately grabbed under his right armpit with his left arm and left the game.
”I thought I felt it, a little something, on the pitch before, but, I mean, it hadn’t been really anything I hadn’t felt before. I just kind of felt like a little ache in my arm. And then I threw another pitch, and that’s when I really felt it,” Syndergaard said.
Nicknamed ”Thor” for his hair, size and swagger, Syndergaard is 1-2 with a 3.29 ERA in five starts this year after going 14-9 with a 2.60 ERA last season.
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson wouldn’t give a timetable for Syndergaard’s return and said the pitcher could be put on the 60-day disabled list.
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