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Minor League Baseball

Mets prospect Noah Syndergaard rips Twitter troll over ‘pathetic 9-5 job’

Jason Rowan
| April 24, 2015

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New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard fell into the all-too common trap that has ensnared many an athlete since the advent of social media this week: He engaged a troll on Twitter. Not only that, he then made it worse by taking a shot at the individual’s presumed “common man” existence.

While an always inadvisable decision in the first place — rarely is anything gained in such an endeavor, but much can be lost — Syndergaard likely caused himself additional headaches by firing back at his social media foe during which he elevated himself and his profession as a baseball player over the troll and his presumed workaday life.

Syndergaard, 22, currently assigned to the Las Vegas 51s, the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate, missed his scheduled start on Thursday due to illness. The pitcher, ranked as the 11th-overall prospect by MLB.com, was catching some heat on Twitter and decided to fire back at a few of the folks giving him a hard time.

And then the pitcher upped the ante by unloading on his critics and their “pathetic” 9-5 jobs.

The conversation continued.

Syndergaard then attempted to justify his comments by suggesting he should be allowed to defend himself, a fair and worthwhile argument, although the 9-5 potshot takes away some of the persuasiveness of his statement.

Finally, he attempted to clarify that his missive wasn’t intended as a shot at people who work 9-5 jobs.

Syndergaard has since remained silent, only retweeting messages expressing support. Probably for the best. As noted above, only bad things can come from engaging trolls — or even merely critics, for that matter – on Twitter. Rarely will something positive emerge from it, if ever.

Further, it’s been proven time and again that it is always poor form for an professional athlete to place themselves on a pedestal above fans. Even if that wasn’t Syndergaard’s intent — and perhaps it wasn’t — he needs to show more social media savvy than what he demonstrated in this situation.

(image credit: Rant Sports)