Noah Syndergaard

BIOGRAPHY

Noah Syndergaard was born on August 29, 1992, in Mansfield, Texas. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

The Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the first round of the 2010 MLB draft and traded him to the Mets in 2012.

Syndergaard made his MLB debut in May 2015, following an injury to Dillon Gee. He impressed manager Terry Collins and remained in the starting rotation for the entire season. The Mets appeared that season in the 2015 World Series against the Kansas City Royals, with Syndergaard pitching in the team's only win of the series. The next year, Syndergaard was named a National League (NL) All-Star, and he became one of only five Mets pitchers to strike out 200 batters in one season before the age of 25. His 2017 and 2018 seasons were limited by injuries and illness, but he managed to start in 32 games for the Mets in 2019. During spring training in 2020, Syndergaard was diagnosed with an ulnar collateral ligament injury and had to undergo Tommy John surgery. He returned for only two innings at the end of the Mets' 2021 season, after which he signed a one-year contract with the Angels.

Although the Mets tendered Syndergaard a qualifying offer for the 2022 MLB season, on November 17, 2021, he signed a one-year, $21 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels, breaking Jered Weaver and C. J. Wilson's record for the highest per-season earnings of any pitcher in franchise history. Syndergaard became the first Angels player since the late Nick Adenhart to wear No. 34, receiving the approval of the Adenhart family. In his Angels debut on April 9, 2022, Syndergaard pitched 5+1⁄3 innings while giving up 2 hits and 2 walks, contributing to a shutout of the Houston Astros. Syndergaard is a weightlifting enthusiast and is capable of squatting 455 pounds (206 kg) and deadlifting 512 pounds (232 kg). 

On August 2, 2022, the Angels traded Syndergaard to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Mickey Moniak and prospect Jadiel Sanchez.

In 2022 between both teams, he was 10-10 with one complete game and a 3.94 ERA in 134.2 innings over 25 games (24 starts).

After he shared a photo of himself weight training while dressed as the superhero Thor, due to the similarity between his last name and the fictional location Asgard, he acquired the nickname "Thor". Syndergaard has embraced the nickname; his mother has an Australian Shepherd named Thor and Syndergaard has "Thor" stitched into one of his gloves. Syndergaard has taken to naming all of his gloves after fictional characters. He has previously used gloves named "Drago" (after the Rocky IV character), "Heisenberg" (after the alias of a Breaking Bad character) and "Rick Grimes" (after The Walking Dead character). Syndergaard auctions his gloves off in order to raise money for the Sjögren's Syndrome Foundation, which raises money to fight Sjögren's disease, an autoimmune disease from which his mother suffers. In 2017 the Mets collaborated with Marvel Comics to put out a Noah Syndergaard as Thor bobblehead and held fan giveaways of the souvenir at games at Citi Field during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Syndergaard has made several appearances on television shows. In 2017, he made a cameo appearance in "The Spoils of War", a Season 7 episode of Game of Thrones on HBO, in which he played an unnamed Lannister spearman in the episode's climactic battle. Syndergaard appeared in a Season 1 episode of Kevin Can Wait, a sitcom starring Mets fan Kevin James, in which he played a man wearing a viking costume for Halloween. He voiced himself in a baseball-themed episode of the animated series Uncle Grandpa alongside fellow MLB players Chris Archer, Adam Jones, José Altuve, and David Price. He also appeared as himself in a segment of the prank reality program Impractical Jokers featuring Joe Gatto.

On December 16, 2022, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Syndergaard to a one-year deal for $13 million.

On July 26, 2023, the Dodgers traded Syndergaard and cash considerations to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for shortstop Amed Rosario.