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Jonah Tong struck out more hitters than anyone in the minor leagues. The Mets just called him up and put him in the bullpen, in low-leverage spots, on purpose.
New York recalled the 22-year-old right-hander in late May and designated veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel for assignment to make room. Tong is a consensus top-50 prospect per MLB Pipeline and an Ontario native nicknamed “The Canadian Cannon,” and his first outing back showed why the buzz follows him.
The debut
Tong threw three hitless innings of relief against the Marlins in Miami, walking one and striking out two on 28 pitches while reaching 98.5 mph. It was the first scoreless work of his major league career, and it came as a long man, eating innings to rest a thin bullpen in a 2-1 loss.
The minor league line tells the rest. Tong posted a 1.43 ERA with 179 strikeouts in 113⅔ innings across two levels in 2025, leading the minors in punchouts by a wide margin after fanning 160 the year before.
The reason for the slow build
The big league results have not matched. Tong got rushed up during last year’s playoff chase and put up a 7.71 ERA across five starts. He opened this season at Triple-A Syracuse, where the strikeouts stayed (55 in 38 innings) and the walks did too (24).
So far in this stint, the strikeout rate has dropped sharply. Tong has three strikeouts in 6⅔ innings, a rate of 4.1 per nine after sitting at 13 per nine in Syracuse, with five walks in two outings. He has added a cutter, dropped his arm angle and taken some break off the curveball, and the Mets are letting him sort it out against the bottom of the order rather than in the seventh inning of a one-run game.
Where this fits
The Mets are leaning into a youth movement, with six rookies on the roster including Rookie of the Year candidate Nolan McLean, a former minor league teammate of Tong’s. The relief role lets New York develop one of its best arms in the majors at a manageable level, with the rotation spot left open until Tong earns his way back to it. The stuff plays at 98 with a curveball hitters chase. The command is the homework, and the Mets are giving him a quiet room to do it in.
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