A native of Ontario, Tong headed to the Georgia Premier Academy for 2022 and earned a trip to the MLB Draft League, though his performance for Frederick wasn’t stellar (14 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings). The Mets still took the right-hander in the seventh round that July and signed him for full slot at $226,000 to get him away from a North Dakota State commitment. Tong only made 10 appearances (eight starts) for New York’s Florida Complex and Florida State League affiliates in 2023 as he worked on transitioning to pro ball, and he’s absolutely taken off this spring, jumping from Single-A St. Lucie to High-A Brooklyn after four scoreless, high-K FSL starts.
The 6-foot-1 hurler throws directly over the top, and that delivery helps him get elite ride on his four-seam fastball. The offering sits 92-94 mph, topping out at 97, and averaged 20.6 inches of induced vertical break, tops among any pitcher that threw a fastball in the FSL. Tong can also snap off a mid-80s curveball that plays well off the verticality of the fastball, and his tight mid-80s slider can also get whiffs. Tong has an 84-86 mph changeup for use against lefties, but that’s a work in progress even though he’s dominated early on in 2024.
Tong experienced control issues in 2022 and 2023 but looked like he ironed those out early on in St. Lucie this spring, in part because he was getting so much swing-and-miss above the zone where he needs to live to dominate. It’s worth monitoring how his walk rate is affected by facing more patient hitters at the upper levels, but there’s no doubting he’s on a path to being a Mets development win.
