As he was recovering from Tommy John surgery all of last year, Christian Scott became somewhat of a forgotten man amidst the surge of young pitching talent in the New York Mets’ farm system with the likes of Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong, among others.
A former top prospect who debuted in May 2024 and logged a 4.56 ERA over nine starts totaling 47 1/3 innings that year before going down with his injury, Scott has come back with a vengeance this season.
The 27-year-old right-hander started New York’s first game out of the All-Star break and shut down the Philadelphia Phillies’ lineup in a 4-1 win at Citizens Bank Park. He tied his season-high of 5 2/3 innings in the outing and notched seven strikeouts while not issuing a walk for just the second time this year.
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Interim manager Andy Green came away impressed with Scott’s stuff and the execution of his pitches in what was arguably the best start of his young career up to this point.
“I thought his mix was really good. His fastball was alive early, he was beating really good hitters with it,” Green said. “I think second time through he mixed really well, got to the cutter and the sweeper a little bit more. Outstanding effort from him.”
Scott’s takeaways from his trip to the mound in South Philly struck a similar tone.
“I thought I did a good job attacking the strike zone early,” Scott said. “Just stayed on the attack pretty much the whole game, all my pitches were working in the strike zone today. Thought I did a good job getting ahead, just getting through at-bats pretty quickly today.”
Scott’s ERA is now down to 2.87 over 13 outings and 59 2/3 innings. His pitch count of 79 was the lowest since his second start back in the majors on May 1, but that can largely be attributed to it being the first game following the break.
With McLean, Scott has formed an exciting young duo in the Mets’ rotation worth keeping a close eye on down the stretch of what’s becoming a lost season. If the likes of Zach Thornton, Tong and potentially Jack Wenninger make an impact once the trade deadline passes, the club might just have a nice influx of promising starters on their hands.
