New York Mets ace Noah Syndergaard was "livid" when he found out he would be throwing to catcher Wilson Ramos during his start on Sunday and confronted manager Mickey Callaway and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen over the decision, according to a report in the New York Post.
Syndergaard has a 5.09 ERA throwing to Ramos in 18 games and a 2.45 ERA with Tomas Nido in 10 games.
Nido is hitting .200/.232/.317 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in 126 plate appearances while Ramos is hitting .298 with 14 home runs and 71 RBIs in 470 plate appearances.
"Noah understands that I'm going to make the lineup and he's going to go out there and compete for the team," Callaway told SNY on Monday. "He understands that we're trying to do something special here and get to the playoffs and that everything else is separated from that.
"We're going to continue to put the best players on the field at all times, and every one of our players in there is going to compete to the best of their ability and only worry about the team."
Van Wagenen said he respected Syndergaard for sharing his feelings.
"We listened to him, he understands our thought process that he may have other catchers catch him," the first-year GM said. "No different than he has earlier in the course of the season and we'll continue to make those evaluations on a day by day basis that gives us a chance to win."
Syndergaard gave up four runs in five innings in a 10-7 loss to the Phillies on Sunday with Ramos catching.
The right-hander is 10-7 with a career-high 4.06 ERA in 28 starts this season. His name was mentioned in trade speculation as the July 31 deadline approached.
Syndergaard can be a free agent following the 2021 season. Ramos signed a two-year, $19 million contract as one of Van Wagenen's free-agent acquisitions in his first offseason since moving from being an agent to New York's front office.
"Wilson is a good player, Noah is a very good player,'' Van Wagenen said. "Everybody out there is doing their best to try to win a game, so my comfort level with all those guys is that every time somebody takes the field, they're going to give their all.''
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.