Laura Albanese: Mets' Nolan McLean again showcases ace potential, pitching evolution
Mets starting pitcher Nolan McLean delivers during the first inning of a game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday in Philadelphia. Credit: AP Photo/Chris Szagola/Chris Szagola
PHILADELPHIA — Nolan McLean lost his first eight decisions in Double-A — a 12-game span in which he pitched to a 5.29 ERA. He didn’t crack Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list until 2025, when he was ranked 99.
And that’s how he ended up where he was Sunday afternoon, making one of the greatest hitters of our generation look downright silly on a wicked whirling dervish of a curveball — a swinging strike three to Bryce Harper that was one of the 10 punchouts he recorded in the Mets’ 6-1 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
It was the third time he recorded double-digit strikeouts in his career and the second time this season.
To figure out how McLean busted out of the typical regression you see in pitchers in their second year in the majors — often the result of batters learning and adjusting to their opponents — you have to pay attention to the journey that got him here.
“I think our scouts did a tremendous job at identifying that was in him,” interim manager Andy Green said, referencing how McLean handles adversity. “He’s handled it well in the minor leagues . . . He doesn’t need the acclaim, he doesn’t need the attention, he doesn’t need people to tell him how great he is. He just wants to compete.”
Which brings us back to that Harper at-bat.
With two outs in the first inning, Harper took a first-pitch sinker right in his wheelhouse, fouled away a changeup outside and went into battle mode.
The curveball that came was nothing short of disgusting — bottoming out as if being pulled down by the hounds of hell and thrown at 3,598 rotations per minute, more RPMs than any other curveball ever thrown in the Statcast era (a curveball thrown by Dylan Lee rated higher, but that one almost certainly was a misread, according to author and pitching analyst Rob Friedman, who goes by Pitching Ninja on X).
This is notable for reasons beyond McLean getting the best of a very, very good major-league hitter three times (a strikeout swinging, a flyout and a strike three looking in the sixth, stranding runners on first and second). Because in many ways, Sunday felt like a full shedding of McLean’s sophomore woes.
His 4.03 ERA on June 24 was one of the highest of his career, and since then, he’s been nearly untouchable, compiling a 0.75 ERA in his next four starts. He allowed no runs and two hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts in six innings Sunday and ended his afternoon in apt fashion, striking out Harper looking to close out the sixth.
His adjustment to adversity — and the Phillies’ bewildered walks back to the dugout — are further proof that he has the makeup to be the front-line starter the Mets have desperately needed for years now. And though his early struggles likely shoved him out of the Rookie of the Year conversation, his late resurgence has proved he’s one of the most promising young players in baseball right now.
He also is not relying on spin — the hallmark of his quick ascension. He noted after the game that he “doesn’t have the greatest shape on the four-seam” but deploys the sinker to make the four-seamer look more elevated and play “a little better than it actually is.”
McLean obviously has strikeout stuff, but that’s not the endgame.
“I want to go deeper into games,” he told reporters. “Getting whiffs is great and all, but it’s really hard to get a ton of whiffs and go deeper into games. You’ve got to have soft contact somewhere in there, but I think the sinker is going to be a pitch for me going forward that’s going to get a lot of that.”
In short, he’s showing, in real time, how he’s continuing to understand how to pitch rather than just how to throw. Pitchability, an expansive pitch mix and sure, a whole lot of spin, combine to make him a formidable foe.
But McLean’s early stutter steps proved it’s not a linear pursuit. It comes with tinkering, it comes with dissatisfaction and it comes with failure. And it comes with stress testing yourself every chance you get.
“Guys are so good in this game that the more and more they see you, they get adjusted to you, and especially when you have the superstars [the Phillies] have got, it’s always good to have a good challenge,” he said. “As a competitor, that’s exactly what you want — to go out there and face those guys every day.”
That mentality is exactly what has taken McLean from eight straight losses in Double-A, dragged him through his early-season struggles and brought him here, Green said.
“Those guys that are wired that way tend to handle adversity really, really well,” he said. “He’s not doing it for the fanfare. He’s doing it because he absolutely loves to be in competition, and this is the spot where he gets to compete against the best in the world.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
