ATLANTA ā šNoah Syndergaard doesnāt laugh about the incident, but four months after the fact, he considers his spring-training lunch miscue as somethinź¦g that helped him develop a major league mindset.
Then the Metsā ź¦ætop pitching prospect, Syndergaard was eating lunch in the clubhouse during an intrasquad scrimmage in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in February, when team captain David Wright apprź§oached and recommended he return to the dugout. As a point of emphasis, Bobby Parnell grabbed Syndergaardās plate of food and tossed it in the trash.
Now a month into his major league career ā he is scheduled to face the Braves on Saturday night at Turner Field ā Syndergaard hasšø reflected onš³ the incident and said he understands why it occurred, and supports it.
āI wouldnāt really call it embarrassing,ā Syndergaard said before the Metsā 2-1 loss to the Braves on Friday. āI would jusāt call it a youth learnšØing experience for me, and it was kind of ignorant on my part. I didnāt see the wrong in doing so.ā
So what did Syndergaard learn from the episode?
āThe winning attitude,ā he said. āThat is something David talked to me about when the whole situatišon went down. It taught me how to be a student of the game a little bit more. You go out [to the bench] to try to learn something new. You donāt need to be inside eating lunch. Something could be happening that you could potentially learn from.ā
Parnell, who recently returned to the Mets after opening the season on the disabled list, was more reluctant to discuss the episode ā āØwhich was witnessed by at least one reporter and became public. But š§itās clear the reliever doesnāt regret trying to send a message to Syndergaard.
āHe is a professional guy and itās one incident and itās in tź§he past,ā Parnell said. āEverybody has those moments. Iāve had thoseš moments and itās in the past.ā
The incident doesnāt appear to have driven a wedge betweenš the two pitchers. On Friday, the two sat side by side in the clubhouse watching golf on TV with teammates and chatting in between.
āHe looks to me as a friend ā somebš¦ody who cares,ā Parnell said. āI want the best for each and every guy in this clubhouse and to be there for whoever needs me.ā
These days Syndergaard said he doesnāt venture from the bench during play, as he trią¼ŗes to pick up on variouš¤”s nuances.
He would seem to have a good laboratory, with Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Bartolo Colon among the specimens in the Metsā rotationšÆ.
āI take different thšings from watching them pitch,āš¦ Syndergaard said. āJust the amount of fun that Bartolo has when he goes out there and how he attacks hitters. I mean, heās got [nine] walks on the year.
āAnd the amount I have learned from [pitching coach] Dan [Warthen] ā I love working with him. He makes it ź¦fun coming to the šballpark every day.ā
Syndergaard, who is 2-4 with a 3.76 ERA, gave the Mets a gem in his last start, when he allowed onš e run over six innings against the Blue Jays on Monday. As The Post recently reported, the Mets have discussed putting Syndergaard in the bullpen (such a move would help keep him active the entire season as he deals with an innings limit), but there are no indications a move will come soon.
The next big thing behind Syndergaarād is lefty Steven Matz, who could be summoned from Triple-A š§Las Vegas before the end of the month.
āIt is awesome to look at,ā Syndergaard said. āMatz is an awesomź§e guy to begin with and he has got tremendous stuff to back it up. He is a lot of fun to watch and when he does eventually get here he is going to impress a lot ofš Mets fans and contribute to a lot of victories.ā