{"id":115444,"date":"2026-03-10T20:22:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=115444"},"modified":"2026-03-10T20:22:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T00:22:41","slug":"mets-option-top-prospect-jonah-tong-triple-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/10\/mets-option-top-prospect-jonah-tong-triple-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets Make Decision on Top Prospect Jonah Tong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After making two starts in spring training, the New York Mets optioned right-hander <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tongjo01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonah Tong<\/a>, the club&#8217;s No. 3-ranked prospect, to Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday morning. Tong pitched a total of 5 1\/3 innings, struck out five batters, and gave up four earned runs. The Mets want Tong to continue to develop and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/02\/14\/jonah-tong-working-secondary-pitches-first-big-league-camp-invite\/\" target=\"_self\">sharpen his secondary pitches<\/a>. However, injuries occur so often throughout the entirety of a long, grueling season \u2014 especially the likes of a 162-game season. So Tong will more than likely be given multiple opportunities during the regular season.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_106383\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-106383\" style=\"width: 684px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The Mets are calling up prospect Jonah Tong for his MLB debut on Friday.\" width=\"684\" height=\"456\" class=\" wp-image-106383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26630575_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-106383\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jul 12, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; National League pitcher Jonah Tong (16) reacts after a pitch during the second inning against the American League at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Mets Option Top Pitching Prospect Jonah Tong to Triple-A<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe\u2019s going to continue to work on his pitches, especially the secondary pitches,&#8221; Mets manager <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/mendoca99.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Mendoza<\/a> said following the news. &#8220;He is going to pitch for us. He\u2019s a big part of what we\u2019re trying to do here, and he\u2019s going to go down there and continue to develop and work on some things.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Tong will join recently demoted <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=morabi001nic\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Morabito<\/a>, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/20\/what-no-16-prospect-nick-morabito-can-bring-mets\/\" target=\"_self\">added to the 40-man roster<\/a> to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, and right-handers <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=ross--001dyl\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dylan Ross<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pintajo01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonathan Pintaro<\/a>. They also reassigned righty <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=wennin002jac\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Wenninger<\/a>\u00a0to minor league camp.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We have made the following roster move. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2gadXDg3Nx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/2gadXDg3Nx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 New York Mets (@Mets) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mets\/status\/2031379683015860629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 10, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>More News from Port St. Lucie<\/h3>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=benge-000car\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carson Benge<\/a>, the Mets&#8217; top-ranked position prospect, is having a big spring. The 23-year-old, who is among the competitors for the team&#8217;s right field opening. So far, he is hitting .391\/.440\/.478 with a .918 OPS in 23 at-bats of Grapefruit League action. If Benge keeps playing the way he is at the moment, it appears he will earn a spot on the Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want him to continue being Carson Benge,&#8221; Mendoza said. &#8220;[I want hime to] continue to have good at-bats. You see some of the tools and some of the abilities we keep talking about him. His ability to use the whole field, put the ball in play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s taken very competitive at-bats,&#8221; Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said at a live press conference on Monday. &#8220;He&#8217;s a tough out. I think he&#8217;s played a nice right field. He&#8217;s done what we would have expected him to do. We think he&#8217;s going to be a really good player and we&#8217;ll have a difficult decision as we get toward [the end] of camp.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lindofr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Francisco Lindor<\/a> (recovery from hamate surgery) is showing progress over the past couple of weeks. At this rate, he is likely to start on Opening Day. In the backfields on Tuesday, Lindor worked on fielding ground balls, marking another positive step forward for a return.<\/p>\n<p>Mendoza said <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/roberlu01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luis Robert Jr.<\/a> is on track to play in his first Grapefruit League game on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After making two starts in spring training, the New York Mets optioned right-hander Jonah Tong, the club&#8217;s No. 3-ranked prospect, to Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday morning. Tong pitched a total of 5 1\/3 innings, struck out five batters, and gave up four earned runs. The Mets want Tong to continue to develop and sharpen his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5706,"featured_media":114090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,926,1071,35],"tags":[4683,28635,380,29121,6391,1308,29190],"class_list":["post-115444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mets","category-milb","category-mlb","category-news","tag-carlos-mendoza","tag-carson-benge","tag-francisco-lindor","tag-jonah-tong","tag-luis-robert-jr","tag-mlb-prospects","tag-nick-morabito"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5706"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115444"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115472,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115444\/revisions\/115472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}