Cleveland Guardians starter Noah Syndergaard is not one to look back. Since being traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Guardians, Syndergaard has pitched three games as a starter, going 1-1 overall with a .500 record in 17 total innings.

When I spoke to him last month just before the trade deadline, the 6-foot-6 pitcher, who started his career with the New York Mets, seemed pretty zen about the game and his place in it.

“Right now, I’m working through it. I’m optimistic. I’m determined,” Syndergaard said via Zoom.

Syndergaard described his short time with the Dodgers, where he was signed after helping the Philadelphia Phillies win the National League pennant and get to last year’s World Series, as special.

“What I can say about the Dodgers is that the unity that (L.A.’s manager) Dave Roberts instills in the managerial position all the way to the front office, it honestly feels like a family.”

He added that it had long been “a lifelong dream to pitch for the Dodgers.”

Syndergaard’s career so far may be best described so far as a work in progress with some strong highlights. His first six seasons were spent with the New York Mets, and in his rookie year of 2015, Syndergaard was the only pitcher shortlisted for the NL Rookie of the Year Award (coming in fourth in the voting) won by Kris Bryant.

As part of the Mets’ one-two punch of young starters, Syndergaard and the Mets won the 2015 NL pennant and got to the World Series. The Mets lost in five games to the Kansas City Royals, with Syndergaard logging the only win, in a 9-3 victory on October 30, 2015, in Game 3.

Amidst two seasons shortened by injury, in 2017 and 2021, Syndergaard stayed in New York until 2022, where he did his first stint in Los Angeles, starting 15 games in the American League with the Angels before he was acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies in August of last year, Philly’s playoff run.

But the right-hander known to fans affectionately as “Thor” isn’t too headstrong to reflect on his early days in baseball and what it took to get to the majors.

Reflecting on it all, he called himself once a “chubby, husky kid in high school” and explained that it was in his teens that he shook things up and started what he calls his “health journey.”

“One day, this switch just turned on, and I decided I wanted to be healthy,” Syndergaard said. “It just exponentially took off throughout the years.”

Strength, stamina, and fitness became a number one priority. And Syndergaard also said that long before he became a well-known name on the mound, he sought out ways to fortify his wellness regimen with proper nutrition.

Syndergaard said that he searched a few supplement options in the marketplace and decided that he liked what Thorne offered.

“I had a determination and passion to achieve an optimal level of performance,” Syndergaard said that some years after using Thorne’s nutrition supplements as part of his regimen, he had an opportunity to partner with the company. “The way it came to fruition felt like it was the prettiest, most popular girl asking you to the dance.”

Currently, Syndergaard represents Thorne Nutrition as one of its athlete ambassadors and has done so for the last four years. Also on its athlete roster are Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo and former NBA star Dwyane Wade, who was this week just inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

That said, it’s not just vitamins, pitching workouts, and hitting the weights that help Syndergaard go. He said that now at age 30, he makes recovery a big focus of his routine.

“It sort of started after I had Tommy John surgery in 2020, and then COVID,” he said, putting the world on pause. “But the house I was renting in Florida for my rehab became the ultimate recovery sanctuary.”

There, Syndergaard said he began doing “red light and hyperbaric therapy, as well cold plunge,” regularly. “I also hired a personal chef, and that was probably my most prized wellness act.”

Syndergaard added that he incorporates mindfulness as part of his daily routines.

“Even before I hopped on the call with you, I took a walk on the beach. I like to make a connection to the earth, with the sun and the sand, and really get the mind right.”

Back in 2018, when Major League Baseball decided to hold Opening Day games on the same day for every baseball team, fans and sponsors went wild.

Capitalizing on the buzz, Kingsford Charcoal ran a bunch of TV spots and videos on social media depicting some of the game’s great getting riled up. While Hall of Famer Johnny Bench cold-called fans and David Ortiz organized office mutinies on one of the commercials, Syndergaard was also enlisted to shout from rooftops with a megaphone, asking baseball fans, “Who wants a hot dog?”

Syndergaard is also known now and again for his funny tweets, both baseball-rated and not. In one such tweet, pictured below, Syndergaard makes light of his being acquired by the Phillies on August 2, 2022, right after the organization announced the move.

Thinking about both tweets and TV spots, I asked Syndergaard about his sense of humor and what he’s like with teammates in and around the clubhouse.

“The clubhouse is a pretty fun and loose environment, and coming to the ballpark to work, every day, I am pretty much the same guy,” Syndergaard said. “I like to give guys a hard time, but in a playful way.”

He added that the clubhouse is always congenial wherever he plays, “a bunch of guys being dudes,” as he puts it. “I consider those guys like brothers in a great environment to come to work for every day.”

But when asked what pitchers from Major League Baseball’s great history he looks up to, he mentions one all-time great who continues to influence pitchers from the little leagues all the way up to the pros.

“Nolan Ryan,” Syndergaard said. “I didn’t know a lot about his later days in his career when I was very young. But I’ve become a big fan and (also) loved the documentary about him.”

In particular, Syndergaard points to what he thinks made Ryan the dream pitcher and what made him Major League Baseball’s all-time strikeouts leader over his 27 seasons.

“His poise, his demeanor, and his competitive nature is something that, as a pitcher, I really envy and really admire.”