When Christian Scott first got the call up to the majors, he was the 88th ranked prospect by Baseball Prospectus. He threw a 94 miles per hour fastball, a sweeper, a slider, and was working on a splitter. He dominated in the minors but when he reached the majors he struggled to get left-handed hitters out. Before long, he was on the injured list with Tommy John surgery.

Fast forward to 2026 and Scott has 3.45 ERA and 1.40 WHIP across his four starts. He has yet to get a win in his career in the majors and hasn’t pitched longer than five innings so far this year. His first appearance was rough, but since then, he has looked like someone who could have the potential to stick in the majors long term.

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Scott’s Pitch Mix

Christian Scott is throwing his fastball a lot harder now, averaging 95.8 miles per hour but the shape is not as strong. He is only generating 14.7 inches of induced vertical break compared to 15.3 inches in 2024. His vertical approach angle is not as strong either at -3.9 and he is not throwing it in the zone as much. He is getting chase on the pitch coming in at 26.8%, but not much whiff at only 20%. He mixes in a sinker here and there and while it is not a strong pitch, as a different look he is able to generate weak contact.

Scotts sweeper is his strongest pitch. With 17.8 inches of horizontal break, it is truly a plus pitch. He generates plus spin and gets an incredible 40% chase rate.

His new splitter is much stronger than the one he was working on in 2024 with better movement and much better spin. I should note that while Statcast calls it a splitter, Scott refers to it as a changeup. He also has introduced a cutter to replace the slider he had which comes in at 88.9 miles per hour with good spin and movement.

Righties vs. Lefties

In 2024, Scott struggled heavily against left-handed hitters, and while that is not a non-issue in 2026, he has improved against them.

Against right-handed hitters, his stuff plays as truly dominant. His sweeper, cutter and sinker all generate plus whiff and he is able to limit hard contact. That sweeper is deadly against them generating a 42.1% whiff rate.

Against left-handed hitters, his four-seam fastball plays up and he sequences it with his cutter to generate chase. He utilized that cutter to generate weak contact against James Wood while also drawing a swing out of the zone from Daylen Lile for the strikeout.

His splitter/changeup will be the likely difference maker here going forward, though he still does not seem comfortable throwing it. He only threw it once in his last start, and left it over the heart of the plate. He is throwing his cutter a lot, and while it has worked for the most part so far, when he can’t place it, it gets crushed by lefties.

We saw that when José Tena crushed a cutter in the middle of the zone for a double. Later in the inning, Drew Millas also roped a single off a cutter that caught too much plate.

While he looks to dominate right-handed hitters with his best pitches and generate whiffs, against left handed hitters he looked to generate chase and get weak contact when he does throw in the zone.

He’s Still Developing

Scott is developing as a pitcher. He still has not truly mastered facing left-handed hitters, but he has made significant strides. He may not project as highly as he did when he was viewed as a pitcher who could sit in the middle or even top of a rotation, but that mid rotation starter ceiling is still there. He has earned a spot in this rotation and as a player drafted as a reliever out of the University of Florida (go Gators!) he is a true development success story.