Saturday night, the New York Mets were let down by some familiar aspects of their game: imperfect defense and a lack of timely hitting.
The Mets dropped game two of a three game set to the Dodgers 4-3. Brett Baty made a critical error, Francisco Alvarez allowed another passed ball to lengthen his league lead, and the Mets went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Despite this, Nolan McLean was, for the most part, sharp again. McLean went six innings, allowing seven hits, four runs (two earned), and struck out seven. This start marked seven starts in a row of at least six innings pitched, with quality starts in six of the seven. Unfortunately, for McLean, he ends up getting a loss in what turned out to be a solid game.
After the game, McLean told reporters that his stuff “felt good overall,” and that he “had some tough luck there early in the game.”
On the stuff aspect, McLean leaned more on his curveball than he has throughout the year, and for good reason. Entering today, McLean has thrown his curveball only 13.2% of the time, despite having an incredible ability to spin that pitch. This year, hitters were hitting only .118 off his curveball, and were swinging and missing 39% of the time.
Saturday was no different. McLean threw his curveball 26% of the time, most of any pitch, and generated eight swings and misses out of 11 swings. His curveball and sinker have been a deadly combination, and have been massive parts of his recent success.
Nolan McLean by Berto Carlo
Another huge development of his game has been the maturity as a pitcher. Getting deep into games is important, especially in today’s baseball when bullpens are constantly being used for multiple innings. Getting through six innings or more, especially when you aren’t at your best, is something that the Mets have been desperate for over the previous two years.
As mentioned earlier, McLean has gone at least six innings in six of the last seven starts. In 2026, 13 of his 21 starts have gone at least six innings, despite only eclipsing 100 pitches in six starts this year. The biggest development has been his ability to know when he needs strikeouts, and when he needs to pitch to contact.
Something incredibly impressive about McLean’s season has been his ability to generate ground balls while striking batters out. McLean’s 28.8% strikeout rate, entering Saturday, is good for the top 12% of baseball. Simultaneously, he ranks in the top 21% of baseball in ground ball rate. Generally, with true ground ball pitchers like Clay Holmes, they don’t have the stuff or command to strike batters out at high clips like McLean does.
The next evolution to McLean’s game is going to be the walks. While McLean doesn’t walk a ton of people (just under league average walk rate), he has only thrown one start this year without a walk. Part of this has to do with the stuff. When you spin the ball as much as he does, naturally, you are going to walk people. If McLean can get his walk rate inside of the top third in baseball, he will truly enter the upper echelon of elite pitchers who can beat you in every way possible.
Things have not been pretty this year for the Mets, and it’s important to take wins when you can get them. Nolan McLean is a very good pitcher who is, at 25 years old, having a fantastic season. This should not be ignored in what is pretty much a lost season.
