Jonah Tong looks more like a perfect first-round pick these days instead of a seventh-round choice signed for $226,000 by the New York Mets.

That’s what the the Canadian right-hander got to sign after being the 13th choice of the seventh round, No. 209 overall, in the 2022 MLB Draft. That gave him 226,000 reasons to forget his college commitment to North Dakota State and turn pro.

Tong’s motion remarkably resembles that of two-time National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. His performance this year for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies of the Double-A Eastern League mimics Lincecum’s results early in his 10-year career after being the 10th overall choice in the 2006 Draft by the San Francisco Giants.

Tong’s 72 strikeouts lead the EL. They have come in only 44 innings. And 13 were in a perfect 6 2/3 innings on May 10. He threw 99 pitches in setting down all 20 Reading batters he faced in a seven-inning game 2 of a doubleheader. Roommate T.J. Shook fanned the final batter for the first perfect game in franchise history and first in full-season affiliate baseball since Sept. 1, 2017.

Tong threw 61 pitches for strikes with 18 swing-and-miss efforts.

“Man, it was very difficult (to pull him),” manager Reid Brignac told The Athletic. “It was very, very difficult. We had a plan set for him for the day based off his last outing and his pitch counts. This is the minor leagues, it’s about development and giving him the opportunity to pitch in the big leagues.”

Tong extended his scoreless streak seven days later by blanking the Hartford Yard Goats on two hits and two walks over six innings, fanning eight.

In nine starts overall, he has a 3-3 record, 2.25 ERA and allowed 23 hits and 24 walks.

That follows a fine 2024 season across three levels from Low-A St. Lucie to Binghamton when he went 6-4 with a 3.03 ERA in 25 outings. His 160 strikeouts were the most by a Mets farmhand and his 34.2% whiff rate ranked fifth among all Minor League qualifiers.

Scouting Jonah Tong

At 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, the 21-year-old is built similarly to the 5-11, 170-pound Lincecum. His over-the-top motion is smoother than Lincecum’s violent delivery but sets up a fastball-curve mix the same way.

Tong’s fastball has improved since signing but is nowhere near Linceum’s upper-90s heater. Tong’s average fastball velocity is in the 91-94 mph range yet the pitch shows remarkable life up in the zone.

“I don’t really understand how it does its thing, but I just know it’s always been my go-to and I just have a lot of conviction trust behind it,” Tong told Brendan Samson of MLB.com following his perfect outing.

That sets up his second-best pitch, a 74-76 mph curveball that he can drop from eye level to the ankles in a flash.

Tong also throws an 82-84 mph slider that needs work and a changeup which gets some strikeouts with movement. He does not command either that well, contributing to a rather high 4.7 walks per nine innings as a pro, including 4.9 this season.

Some scouts believe that more experienced hitters will lay off the fastball, ignore any curve dipping out of the zone, and eventually hammer one of the lesser offerings.

Keeping Up With The Tongs

Jonah comes from an athletic family. His mother Karen and father Alex played multiple sports in high school She played softball, field hockey, and volleyball; he played hockey and volleyball. They met while playing adult league slow pitch and volleyball.

Tong’s sister Morgan was a gymnast at Central Michigan, voted Mid-American Conference freshman of the year, First Team all MAC beam team (second year), MAC beam champion 2021, qualified to NCAA Nationals to beam as an individual (2021), CMU won the regular season and conference tournament

His other sister Montana played softball growing up and for her varsity baseball team in high school.

Video Helped The Young Pitching Star

The very first music video shown on MTV on Aug. 1, 1981 was “Video Killed The Radio Star” by the Buggles. Born 22 years later, Tong says video helped this young pitching star.

“I watched a lot of guys growing up,” he said. “My dad did, too, and would say, hey watch Greg Maddux. He’s the ultimate pitcher who combines athletic talent with brains.”

Tong lists Lincecum among players that have had a video influence on his career along with Los Angeles Dodgers great Clayton Kershaw, former Met and current Texas Rangers ace Jacob DeGrom, current Dodger Tyler Glasnow and the Hall of Famer Maddux. There’s a hint of Hall of Famer Roy Halladay in Tong’s mechanics, too. As a young boy, he watched the late right-hander excel with the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies.

His favorite pitcher was the first he ever actually saw. That was former Toronto right-hander Brett Cecil at a meet-and-greet session the Blue Jays had for young players in the area. Tong grew up about 20 miles northeast of the Rogers Centre in Markham, Ontario.

Jonah Tong’s Future

MLB Pipeline ranks Tong as the Mets’ fourth overall prospect behind speedy shortstop-outfielder Jett Williams, right-hander Brandon Sproat and outfielder Carson Benge. ESPN ranks him ahead of Sproat and Baseball America ranks his fastball as best in the Mets’ farm system.

Obviously, the future is bright. The only clouds on the horizon come from Tong’s lack of consistent command and the need to develop a reliable third and possibly fourth pitch.

An expanded arsenal and the ability to throw strikes with all pitches makes him a viable rotation candidate. If not, the elite fastball-curve mix could play well out of the bullpen.

The Mets, as shown in pulling him with a perfect game in the balance, will proceed carefully with Jonah Tong. He’s not exactly built to be an innings-eating ace. Then again, neither was 5-11, 170-pound Pedro Martinez who made two all-star teams for the Mets in an 18-year Hall of Fame career with five teams.

You never can tell. Look what happened with Martinez, signed for only $6,500 by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur in 1988. The New York Mets and Jonah Tong will gladly take such a career.