Nolan McLean gave the Mets a gritty rebound on Saturday
Even though the Mets lost, McLean and several stars shone a bit brighter than the rest of the Mets' lineup
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost a heartbreaker to the Padres on Saturday, 3-2 (box)
It was another fairly quiet night for the offense, as they mustered just two runs on six hits and three walks off old friend Griffin Canning
RHP Nolan McLean gritted out a gutsy performance, finishing his night with three walks of his own but just one run allowed over his six innings
2B Marcus Semien continued his recent hot streak with a two-hit night, driving in both of the Mets’ runs
Semien briefly gave the Mets the lead with a solo homer in the top of the seventh, but RHP Austin Warren promptly gave up a go-ahead two-run shot to Padres backstop Freddy Fermin in the bottom of the frame; it was Fermin’s first homer of the season
CF A.J. Ewing worked two of the Mets’ three walks last night, including a masterclass of a plate appearance with two outs in the ninth to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in 1B Mark Vientos
Vientos struck out on three pitches to end the game, his third of the night; he finished 0-for-4, and has struck out six times in his last 10 plate appearances
The Mets are 1-27 this season when scoring two or fewer runs
Injury Updates 🏥
C Francisco Álvarez (torn right knee meniscus) caught seven innings in back-to-back games this week and could return as soon as the next homestand
RHP Kodai Senga (lumbar spine inflammation) has allowed seven runs over 12 rehab innings; he is expected to start for Binghamton on June 9, but there are no immediate plans to activate him until his performance improves
INF Jorge Polanco (left Achilles bursitis) had his rehab assignment shut down due to ankle soreness; he is returning to New York for further assessment
Play of the Game 🙄
Yeah…Austin Warren had a rough night.
After securing the first two outs of the inning, Warren misplayed a chopper from San Diego’s Sung-Mun Song. He then immediately hung a sinker to Fermin, who didn’t miss an inch of it.
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
ICYMI: Rich went solo for the latest midweek episode to wax poetic on the current state (and immediate future) of Mark Vientos.
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
LF Ryan Clifford (No. 3 prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 K
2B Ji Hwan Bae (Triple-A): 1-for-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
CF Cristian Pache (Triple-A): 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K
LHP Jonathan Santucci (No. 8 prospect, Double-A): 6.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K
3B Nick Lorusso (Double-A): 3-for-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K
LHP Daviel Hurtado (High-A): 5.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (28-36) at Padres (33-30)
Where: Petco Park - San Diego, CA
Starters: Huascar Brazobán (3-1, 2.25 ERA) vs. RHP Randy Vásquez (5-3, 3.31 ERA)
When: 4:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Nolan McLean is going to be just fine! ✍️
It wasn’t his smoothest outing, but Nolan McLean was exactly as effective as he needed to be to keep the Mets in last night’s contest.
Over his six innings of work, McLean battled to the tune of 101 pitches. Though he allowed some traffic early and ran up his pitch count in the process, he settled down over his last few frames to keep the Padres’ bats quiet. Compared to his two big blow-up starts last month, this latest outing was a relative walk in the park.
After allowing just one run but five walks against the Marlins, it looked like McLean was getting back into form, if not still struggling a bit with missing bats or spotting things exactly where he wanted them. On Saturday, he demonstrated his ability to battle through the imperfections and stay effective — a very positive sign of rapid progression from a guy who’s still reasonably new to full-time pitching.
His location early in the evening may not have been as tight as one may have liked, but McLean fared better in the strike department against the Pads than he has in a few starts. Despite some big misses, he demonstrated enough command of the zone and his repertoire to find his spots when he needed to, and that’s exactly what you want to see from a young guy who’s getting his first real dose of professional adversity.
Here are McLean’s called strikes alongside his whiffs from Saturday:
This is a very illuminating illustration.
The fact that McLean was not just throwing his whole mix for strikes, but also landing whiffs and called strikes on all pitch types throughout the zone, suggests that he’s finding more feel for some of his more severe stuff. As the league continues to learn how to hit his pitches, the aggressive movement he’s made his name on to date will naturally matter less and less. Learning how to place each shape where he wants it will be the true key to his success in the bigs, and though it’s still early in his development, those roots appear to be taking shape.
Looking at McLean’s individual matchups from Saturday is an equally encouraging exercise. (I’ll chill out with the alliteration now.) Though he failed to find the zone entirely in some instances, and though his pitch count was high through the first few frames, the story being told by the per-plate-appearance charts is one of a pitcher who’s remembering how to attack hitters without fear. He was locating his fastball all night, and as he got more comfortable with it, he committed to it more, throwing it just 19% of the time in his first two times through the order and then a whopping 32% on the third trip while his sweeper took a backseat.
Spam hitters with your harder-breaking stuff early to spread the zone
Keep them honest with consistent sinker usage
Attack the corners and edges of the zone with increasingly frequent, straight-ahead heat on your final trip through the order
That’s good sequencing.
Though I recently said that all the mounting losses make it harder to celebrate the individual wins, I don’t feel that way this morning. As irritating as the repeated offensive anemia is, and as big a bummer as Warren’s seventh inning was, it’s easy to see and acknowledge the improvements McLean has shown since delivering two of the worst starts of his career just weeks ago. That tenacity is going to have a significant impact on the remainder of McLean’s season and career.
Given how impressive his raw talent is, it’s easy to forget that McLean is just 24 years old, with a mere 21 big league starts to his name. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s run into a few bumps in the road — what matters is that he gets past them. Saturday’s performance suggests he’s already pulling himself out of his short-lived doldrums.
McLean’s postgame comments offered some additional insight into his mentality amid his struggles:
“I try to take pride in forgetting about what happened. Even tonight, try to flush it as quick as possible, because it’s pretty irrelevant now. It’s on to the next start.”
That’s the right answer. Now let’s see what that next start has to offer.
Around the League 🚩
Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is expected to make a rehab start today; he should rejoin the team after that
Aaron Judge will be shut down for 4-6 weeks after seeing a specialist and undergoing multiple rounds of imaging
Jacob Misiorowski threw 45 pitches over 101 mph in the Brewers’ 7-1 win over the Rockies in Denver, including a 103.7 mph monster that ranks as the fastest pitch thrown by a starter since tracking was implemented in 2008
Presumptive AL MVP frontrunner Yordan Álvarez hit a grand slam to help propel the Astros to a 13-2 demolition of the A’s at home; it was his league-leading 22nd homer and brought his RBI total to 48—also tops in the AL
Bobby Witt Jr.’s 400th career RBI sealed a dramatic win for the Royals on the road in Minneapolis, 3-2
Guardians righty Tanner Bibee threw eight scoreless innings, ending a streak of 13 winless starts
Sadly it's time to realize that Mark Vientos isn't a MLB-caliber player.
Mark, we hardly knew ye.