Christopher Morel was facing the other direction, which did not stop Jonah Tong from coming up behind him and hugging him. Continuing his way around the room, Tong tapped Juan Soto on the shoulder, and Soto grinned as the two embraced. Sean Manaea got his own big hug and then left the clubhouse chatting with the outgoing pupil he grew close to last year.

Tong is back in the major leagues, his arrival in Queens on Sunday providing some life and plenty of smiles to a team that is as fond of the young right-hander as the team’s fanbase.

In terms of staying in the major leagues, Tong’s audition begins — and will not end — Monday in Miami.

The Mets will give a prolonged chance to a top prospect who has followed a rocket-ship 2025 with a roller-coaster 2026.

“There’s so many things that we have control over in our career, and sometimes there’s just lessons that need to be learned,” Tong said Sunday morning before the Mets’ 4-2 win over the Giants, “and I’m just really excited to see the person that I’ve become out of it.”

As a person, the now 23-year-old has not withered under various unflattering spotlights. He soared his way to the majors last season before he probably was ready and then struggled (7.71 ERA) in five games for a club that finished a win shy of the postseason. He returned this spring juggling pitching projects that also were not ready, as evidenced by a 6.00 ERA with Triple-A Syracuse as late as July 9.

Mixed in there were a couple shots with the big league Mets in late May and early June, which ended with a 3 ¹/₃-inning, five-run dud in Seattle that underscored that he would not be the player who saved the 2026 Mets.

If he demonstrated last year that he can handle success, Tong — who said he now is a “better person” — is now attempting to demonstrate he can handle failure.

“I’m the same kid I was last year as I am this year,” said Tong, who will be formally added to the roster Monday. “I think the only difference is I just have a boatload of experience I didn’t have last year. And honestly, the support system I have outside of baseball and in baseball, they’re my family. So, I appreciate them and lean on them a lot.”

As a pitcher, though, there is no doubt he has changed.

Last year he bulldozed his way through the minors primarily with a four-seamer that dropped from the sky, hitters unable to get their bat on a pitch thrown from such an extreme, over-the-top angle, along with a changeup that looked like the four-seamer before it dived to the bottom of or below the strike zone. He mixed in a curveball, but essentially he was a two-pitch pitcher — which mattered when he was promoted to Queens and major league hitters only had to plan for two pitches.

So this spring Tong worked further on his curveball and developed a cutter to make himself a more complete pitcher. Along the way, his arm angle dropped: He threw from an almost impossibly high 64-degree angle in the majors last year, while he used a less-extreme 51-degree angle during his brief stint this year.

The change might help his breaking stuff and may hurt his fastball effectiveness, but the best angle probably remains a work in progress.

“I think I’m pretty happy with how I am,” Tong said of his arm angle. “I’m not really too focused on that.”

He is happy, too, with the results of late, and perhaps he is figuring out what works. Seven of his past eight outings with Triple-A Syracuse have been strong, a stretch in which he owns a 2.20 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .185 against him. He still is walking too many (20 in 41 innings), but the stuff has begun to tick up.

Interim manager (and former/future player development exec) Andy Green said he lost and then refound his changeup, which Tong said he has done simply by throwing it more.

“It’s just more getting comfortable with it again,” Tong added. “Like everything, pitching is based on feel, and I felt like I’ve been in a really good spot with that and other pitches and happy with how things have been going.”

He has found more comfort, too, with the cutter, which has held opposing batters to a .174 average and .530 OPS in the span.

He has shown enough that he has earned another chance, which will comprise more than one start. Tong is now in the rotation.

“He’s going to continue to post when it’s his turn to pitch, and he hasn’t really had that knowledge at any point in time in his short big league career — it’s always been: You come up here and you throw a few innings and then you’re probably going back,” Green said of Tong, who has an opportunity to demonstrate to the Mets that he belongs in a 2027 rotation conversation that includes Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, Zac Thornton and Manaea.

Not that Tong is looking toward 2027 just yet.

“I’m starting Monday,” he said, “and I just can’t wait for that.”