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The New York Mets are calling up another one of their top pitching prospects. Right-hander Jonah Tong will be promoted and join the starting rotation, manager Carlos Mendoza announced Tuesday. He will start Friday's game against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field. Tong's most recent Triple-A start was this past Saturday, so he will be on extra rest for his MLB debut.

"I think it's all about him dominating in the minor leagues," Mendoza said about the decision to promote Tong. "You could make a case -- all right, he's Double-A, do you want to give him a better look (after only two starts) at the Triple-A level? But man, a couple of outings, it's hard to keep him there. So, here he is now."

A seventh-round draft pick in 2022, Tong is one of the top breakout prospects in the minors this season. The 22-year-old has a 1.43 ERA with 179 strikeouts in 113 ⅔ innings, mostly in Double-A. Those 179 strikeouts lead the minors and are 32 more than any other pitcher. Tong has struck out 40.5% of the batters he's faced. That is tops among the 154 minor leaguers with at least 100 innings.

"As you roll into the last month of the season, you want to have the best roster you possibly can," Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters Tuesday. "We think Jonah has the chance to be among that." 

MLB Pipeline ranks Tong as the 44th-best prospect in baseball. Here's a snippet of their scouting report:

Standing at 6-foot-1, Tong can look like the second coming of Tim Lincecum with his deceptive over-the-top delivery and good extension. His fastball only shows average velocity in the 91-94 mph range, but it plays well above that with elite induced vertical break (averaging above 20 inches in front of Statcast cameras in the FSL). He plays off that high pitch with a 74-76 mph curveball that he can drop in (with above 65 inches of vertical drop) for early strikes or tunnel off the heater for a K. He leaned on his 82-84 mph cut slider early in 2024 as he was looking to hone the pitch, but a 84-86 mph changeup (thrown with a Vulcan grip) was better at generating whiffs as a rare armside offering for him ... There is some concern that more advanced batters can lay off his north-south approach and that his unorthodox delivery will be difficult to maintain as he ages.

The Mets summoned righty Nolan McLean, their top pitching prospect overall, earlier this month and he's allowed two runs with 15 strikeouts in 12 ⅓ innings spanning two starts. Right-hander Brandon Sproat recently shifted into the bullpen in Triple-A, perhaps indicating the Mets are preparing him for such a role in Queens.

New York is eight days into a 16-games-in-16-days stretch. It is unclear whether Tong will join the rotation for good, or merely make a spot start to give the club's regular starters extra rest during his long stretch of games. Former reliever Clay Holmes has thrown 137 ⅓ innings, far and away a career high, and has a 4.91 ERA in his last nine starts. A return to the bullpen could be in the cards.

The Mets currently hold the third National League wild card spot at 70-61. They have a 2 ½ game lead over the Cincinnati Reds for a postseason berth with 31 games remaining.