The next great Mets pitching prospect
The next great Mets pitching prospect
The Mets are rained out yet again in the early season. Plus, a look at Christian Scott's dominant start in Triple-A.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets and Braves were rained out on Wednesday night – the game will be made up in Atlanta on September 26th
The story about how the recently recalled Tyler Jay revived his MLB career is an amazin’ one (Mets.com)
Roster Moves 🗞️
RHP Kodai Senga (shoulder strain) transferred to the 60-day injured list
LHP Tyler Jay recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
RHP Dedniel Núñez optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
Prospect Watch 🔍
RHP Christian Scott (No. 5 prospect, Triple-A): 5 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 10 K (win)
SS Jett Williams (No. 1 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, 2B, 3B, RBI, run scored
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (4-7) at Braves (7-3)
Where: Truist Park — Atlanta, GA
Starters: LHP José Quintana (0-1, 2.61 ERA) vs. RHP Allan Winans
When: 12:20 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY, MLB Network
Christian Scott is knocking at the door ✍️
For a pitching rich organization like the Mets, they’ve hit a bit of a dry spell in their development of young and exciting starters.
Ever since the “Five Aces” era made up of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz – all of whom now former Mets – New York has not had many truly enticing starting pitchers waiting in the wings. For a moment it appeared as if Matt Allan could have been that guy, but the fates threw a wrench in that plan as Allan has not thrown a professional pitch since 2019 due to the pandemic and a myriad of injuries.
And while the organization has managed to graduate several talented home grown players over the last several seasons, nearly all of them have been position players. Since 2018, New York has promoted players such as Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Brett Baty and Francisco Álvarez, all of whom are currently core members of this team. The team also has several young position players in the minor leagues with Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuña, Jett Williams, Ryan Clifford and Alex Ramírez all on the horizon. Again – all position players.
There is one pitching prospect, however, that has been making a charge up the club’s organizational ranks, and he’s pushing his way closer to breaking through to the major leagues.
Christian Scott, the 24-year-old right-handed starter, was selected by the Mets in the 5th round (142nd overall) in the 2021 MLB Draft and has been making some major noise for the club in recent weeks after an impressive spring and a few dazzling efforts in Triple-A Syracuse.
At this point last year, Scott was not even in the club’s Top 30 ranked prospects (via MLB.com), and yet amazingly enough he now ranks as the club’s No. 5 overall prospect this season. This is in large part due to Scott’s sublime performance in Single-A and Double-A last season where he pitched to a 2.57 ERA and 0.856 WHIP with 107 strikeouts and only 12 walks over 19 starts.
While he has been skyrocketing up prospect lists over the past year, Scott also familiarized himself to some fans who may not be watching the minor leagues as closely this past March as he struck out eight batters over five innings in Spring Training. If you weren’t already aware before, it became obvious the kind of pure stuff that this kid had in his arsenal.
That success has carried over into his first two starts in the minor leagues this season. Though he is sporting a 4.00 ERA (he allowed three runs over four innings in his first start), Scott’s dominant swing-and-miss stuff has still been on full display thus far. In nine innings pitched over two starts, the right-hander has struck out a mind blowing 19 batters with just one walk allowed. It’s also important to note that these are the first two Triple-A starts of Scott’s entire career and he has still managed to show that kind of excellence when it comes to missing bats.
If the Mets can see Scott make improvements in his ability to work deeper into games – he’s averaging less than five innings per start over the last two seasons – early on in this year, there is a distinct possibility that he could become a viable option to help out their rotation this season.
With the shape of their rotation still in flux with Kodai Senga on the shelf for the near-future, Tylor Megill going on the injured list, his replacement Julio Teheran getting DFA’d after one start and a bunch more question marks between Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Adrian Houser, this remains a pitching staff that is likely going to have questions and require reinforcements as the season marches forward.
What Scott brings is something the Mets do not have very much of on their roster right now: electric, swing-and-miss stuff. It’s been awhile since this organization has had an arm with this appetizing of a skillset but, man, is it sure good to see it again.
Around the League 🚩
Orioles No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday made his MLB debut as the club overcame a 5-0 deficit vs the Red Sox
Brothers Josh Naylor and Bo Naylor both homered in the same inning for the Guardians on National Siblings Day in their 7-6 walk-off win vs the White Sox
Marlins DH Jake Burger clubbed a three-run home run on his birthday as the Fish defeated the Yankees, 5-2