It has happened!

Christian Scott has finally earned his first career major league win, snapping a streak of 15 straight winless starts to begin his career, two shy of the major league record held by Liam Hendriks. The Mets took the win over the Marlins by a score of 6-1 on Saturday, winning three in a row and taking the series against Miami. It was a great day overall for the Mets, which showcased all facets of the game. Big days from Carson Benge, Jared Young, and Marcus Semien helped to pace the Mets’ offense.

Scott was critical for the Mets, going five innings, allowing five hits, one earned run, and striking out eight. Saturday night tied Scott’s career high for strikeouts and was only the second time in his career he has thrown more than 94 pitches.

In his last two starts, Scott has gone 10 2/3 innings allowing only one earned run, lowering his ERA for the season to 2.97. “We saw signs of that in 2024,” Carlos Mendoza told reporters after the game. “I’m not surprised by it, but man, if we can get that version, which I’m pretty confident we will, that’s another factor for us to turn this thing around right there.”

Something that Scott has been very good at this season is liming hard contact. Entering Saturday, Scott’s barrel rate of 1.5% ranks at the top of all qualified MLB starters, and in the 98th percentile of all MLB pitchers. His hard hit rate is in the 93rd percentile and his average exit velocity against is in the 80th percentile. All of those are fantastic metrics to help limit damage as a starter.

Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

So, what has changed from his initial stint in 2024, when it felt like he could not get anyone out?

The biggest positive development from Scott has been a drastic improvement in his repertoire. This improvement is two-fold; improvement of pitches he already could throw, and a big shift in pitch mix.

In 2026, Scott has seen large increases in his “Stuff+” metrics on his split finger and his sweeper. On average, his sweeper is generating almost four more inches of horizonal break this season compared to 2024. Whys this matter? His new sweeper profile has had a huge impact on his results. In 2024, his sweeper was hit very hard, allowing an opponent slugging percentage of .516. Entering Saturday, opponents were only slugging .318 off the sweeper, despite throwing it more often.

The biggest improvement to Scott’s game is the development of his cutter. In 2024, Scott threw only two cutters. This year, he is now throwing his cutter over 20% of the time, and for good reason. Opponents are hitting .136 and slugging .182 off the pitch.

The cutter has allowed him to combat his biggest weakness from 2024: left-handed batters. In 2024, left-handed hitters slashed .333/.375/.567 off Scott, good for a .942 OPS. Entering Saturday, lefties were slashing .180/.306/.519 off of Scott, good for a .519 OPS. Against those type of hitters, Scott prefers his cutter to any other secondary pitch, throwing it 24% of the time versus lefties compared to 13% against right-handed pitchers.

Despite the pitch improvements, Scott still needs to work on some aspects of his game. After his start on Saturday, Scott now has 16 walks in 30 1/3 innings. His walk rate is in the bottom 10% of major league pitchers, and he has walked multiple hitters in six of his seven starts this year. This causes him to throw several more pitches than he would like. Scott has only pitched into the sixth inning once this year. He has not completed six innings this year, and has not completed five innings in four of the seven starts.

Despite the length issues, Scott has brought something the Mets have desperately needed, stability. He has shown an ability to keep the Mets in games over the month of May, which cannot be said for several of their other starters. While he hasn’t been perfect, he has taken the ball and given them the chance to win the game.

Manager Carlos Mendoza is right. If the Mets want to get back in this year, they are going to need someone to drag them back into the race. With issues from some of their other starters, Christian Scott is an incredibly important piece. He needs to be someone that can be relied upon moving forward, not only this year, but hopefully for years to come.