A look at the next Mets prospect, who will debut on Wednesday
Also - Bo Bichette snapped his slump, but Nolan McLean struggled and the Mets kept dropping the ball in an ugly loss in DC
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost a laugher in the nation’s capital, 9-6 (box)
RHP Nolan McLean struggled against an ‘aggressive’ Nationals offense, surrendering nine runs (six earned) on eight hits, including two homers
McLean wasn’t helped by the Mets’ defense, which contributed two errors to an overall sloppy performance
The majority of Washington’s offense came on an inside-the-park grand slam by James Wood in the bottom of the second inning
The Mets mostly produced at the plate, with multi-hit games from spots 1-4 in the lineup
SS Bo Bichette broke out of his recent slump in a big way, smashing two two-run homers in the opening two frames
RF Carson Benge continued his breakout with another three-hit night
DH Juan Soto also got in on the homer action
LF Nick Morabito struggled at the plate in his debut, but made several notable plays on defense, including a big grab along the sideline
Morabito was issued No. 8 prior to the game, becoming the first Met to be given the number in 25 years — following a large negative fan reaction for giving away the late Gary Carter’s number, the team reversed the decision and Morabito will switch to No. 55 starting on Wednesday
RHP Daniel Duarte was nearly flawless in his Mets debut, allowing just one hit with a strikeout over 2.1 scoreless innings
Roster Moves 📰
OF Nick Morabito selected from Triple-A Syracuse
OF Austin Slater designated for assignment
RHP Clay Holmes transferred to the 60-day IL
Injury Updates 🏥
OF Jared Young (torn meniscus) started a rehab assignment on May 15th and was bumped up to Triple-A; he will ramp up over the coming weeks
Play of the Game ✨
Funny how a single swing can change the tenor of an entire evening.
After opening the game with five unanswered runs, the Mets’ momentum was immediately arrested in the bottom of the second inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Nolan McLean hung a first-pitch sweeper to James Wood, who hit it on a line into the left-center gap.
Nick Morabito tried to make a leaping catch at the wall, but he came up empty-handed. When Tyrone Taylor lost track of the ball, it leaked all the way back into center field. Wood never broke stride, rounding third at full speed before the relay throw even reached the infield.
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
ICYMI: Andrew took the helm of the latest Just Mets pod to discuss the Mets’ recent burst of competitiveness and recapped some Subway Series history with Knicks Film School’s Benjy Ritholtz.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
C Ben Rortvedt (Triple-A): 2-for-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 K
DH Eric Wagaman (Triple-A): 3-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI
LHP A.J. Minter (Triple-A): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
RF Eli Serrano III (Double-A): 2-for-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K
2B D’Andre Smith (Double-A): 2-for-3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
BOX SCORES
Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (21-27) vs. Nationals (24-25)
Where: Nationals Park - Washington, D.C.
Starters: LHP Zach Thornton (MLB Debut) vs. RHP Zack Littell (2-4, 6.10 ERA)
When: 6:45 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
A rare dud from Nolan McLean, and what’s ahead for Zach Thornton’s debut on Wednesday? ✍🏻
Since his big league debut, Nolan McLean has had fans and analysts alike absolutely salivating over his stuff. With upper-90s velocity and pitch shapes that offer movement unlike literally anything else currently playing on the big league stage, it took merely a handful of starts for McLean to cement himself as the presumed NL Rookie of the Year and maybe even a Cy Young candidate in his first full year of work.
To start the season, McLean has mostly lived up to the hype. Ten starts into his campaign, McLean sports a 3.57 ERA with 69 strikeouts and a 1.03 WHIP over 58.0 innings — and that’s his line after the worst start of his career.
However, while the quality of his pitch mix is undeniable, there are some statistical trends that suggest the league is starting to get a grip on his repertoire (steadily increasing opponent BABIP/declining K rate/increasing homer rate over the last five outings). Last night’s game was just the latest example.
Remember that outing McLean had against Italy in the WBC? Looking back at the data, they were fairly similar starts. The final line wasn’t abysmal, but the story arc of that game back in March very closely mirrored what unfolded against Washington on Tuesday.
Against Italy, McLean started his night by striking out the side; within a few innings’ time, the Italians were taking breaking balls that had befuddled them minutes earlier, forcing McLean to work more in the zone. I opined at the time that, though his arsenal’s exaggerated movement is obviously lethal, his pitches will also become increasingly easy for hitters to pick up the more they see them. Yesterday, McLean gave up five hits on four different pitch types on 0-0 counts, suggesting the Nationals were particularly trigger-happy because they were recognizing his pitches quickly out of his hand.
Another interesting tidbit about McLean is how severe his splits are between 1-0 and 0-1 counts. It’s almost like the entire trajectory of an at-bat against him depends on the first pitch. Look at this:
After 0-1: 121 TBF, 0.54 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, 1.34 FIP, .125/.157/.173, .219 BABIP, 41.3% K rate, 2.5% BB rate, 21.2% hard-hit rate, 28.8% fly ball rate, .175 wOBA
After 1-0: 86 TBF, 1.10 ERA, 1.96 WHIP, 5.32 FIP, .257/.395/.414, .327 BABIP, 22.1% K rate, 16.3% BB rate, 27.5% hard-hit rate, 37.5% fly ball rate, .370 wOBA
That’s…quite the discrepancy!
Such a severe split indicates that McLean still has room to grow in the sequencing department. Hitters running a near-.400 OBP after getting ahead in the count says they’re usually anticipating McLean’s next move with moderate success; the uptick in hard-hit and fly ball rates confirms they’re correctly attacking those follow-up pitches. Further, in 2025, the split between counts was nowhere near severe, likely because everyone who faced McLean was seeing him for the first time. This year, though, there’s plenty of tape out there on him to gameplan with — it doesn’t feel coincidental that the most glaring negatives of last night’s effort mirrored those of that less-than-ideal WBC outing.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting McLean’s some bust waiting to happen; the underlying metrics still look otherworldly, and he’s not even 20 games into his MLB career. His curveball is eliciting a 45% whiff rate this season, and his sweeper is performing better than it did last season; his pitch selection will improve with his command, and his repertoire is only going to get more refined with age. McLean’s only started two more games this year than he did in 2025; he’ll be fine. But this is one growing pain that might hurt a little more than others.
With the arrival of Zach Thornton, McLean is no longer the youngest starter in the room. Is there anything the new kid can learn from the now-elder statesman’s tough Tuesday?
In pregame comments, Thornton referred to himself as an ‘ultimate competitor,’ and ‘a strike thrower’ — his 70% strike rate, 6.5% walk rate, 0.92 WHIP, and 13.5 P/IP at Triple-A all agree with that self-assessment. He doesn’t offer the same sort of power-pitching profile McLean does; rather, Thornton’s your prototypical finesse pitcher, which may actually fare better against this Washington lineup.
The Nationals are one of the most passive teams in the league, swinging at just 45.7% of the pitches they see. While that’s led to the third-lowest team strikeout rate in the league, that selectivity comes at a potentially exploitable cost: MLB’s fourth-highest called strike rate (17.3%). Called strikes are Thornton’s specialty: he successfully worked the edges 21.2% of the time during his brief stint in Syracuse. He offers a fastball and sinker that work upstairs alongside a slider/curveball combo that spreads the lower third-base quadrant and makes the strike zone look massive. And he places his pitches so effectively that hitters swing at less than 60% of pitches he puts in the zone, which suddenly makes that passivity that much more precarious.
While Washington hitters were swinging relatively freely in yesterday’s matchup, I do think that will prove to be more of a game-specific plan of attack than a sudden team-wide shift in strategy. There’s certainly a chance they double down on the aggression and go right after the rookie on the mound, but in what will likely be a short opener appearance (barring uninterruptible excellence), I’d be willing to bet they err more on the side of patience. Thornton’s mix plays all over the zone, but he leans on his offspeed stuff to keep balls on the ground (50.0% at Triple-A) and keep productive contact to a minimum — the Nationals have the league’s eighth-highest team groundball rate (43.7%). Though the Mets have been a bit of a defensive liability lately, I assume they’ll back up any Thornton grounders just fine.
Whether Thornton works a few innings as an opener or delivers a debut like McLean’s, his arrival in Queens is a very loud endorsement from Mets brass. Thornton leapfrogging both Tong and Wenninger for this call speaks highly to the strength of his stuff, as does his quick ascent through the system. As a reminder, he was a fifth-round pick in 2023; he posted a 4.10 ERA in 68.0 innings between Single- and High-A in 2024, then turned in a 1.98 ERA over 72.2 innings in High- and Double-A in 2025.
Now, Thornton will see if he can be the latest rookie to infuse this team with some stabilizing energy.
Around the League 🚩
The Tampa Bay Rays have won 20 of their last 24 games after downing the Orioles 4-1 on Tuesday; their 32-15 record is MLB’s best
Yankees skipper Aaron Boone earned his second ejection of the season, squaring off with the same umpire from the famous ‘savages in the box’ rant - the Yankees did edge the Jays 5-4 in the Bronx
RHP Gerrit Cole will make his season debut on Friday for the Yankees after missing a year and a half following Tommy John Surgery (MLB.com)
2B Ketel Marte hit the first walk-off homer of his career to secure the Diamondbacks’ fourth win in their last five games as they downed the Giants 5-3