The National League (NL) Rookie of the Year conversation just keeps getting more interesting.

The New York Mets won game two of a three game set with the Astros by a score of 6-2 on Saturday. Juan Soto made his return to the lineup, adding an RBI single. Jared Young had a huge day, going 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs. However both were outshined by the brilliance of Nolan McLean.

McLean went seven innings, allowing only an unearned run, two hits, three walks, and struck out four. This now makes 17 consecutive innings without an earned run. McLean, who improved to 10-8 with an ERA of 3.06, has used the last 11 starts to plant his flag firmly with Sal Stewart, JJ Wetherholt, and Carson Benge in the Rookie of the Year award voting.

Over his last 11 starts, McLean’s ERA is a dazzling 1.76. Compared to his NL counterparts, McLean ranks seventh in innings pitched, seventh in ERA, ninth in WHIP, third in BAA, and tied for fourth in quality starts. Those are ranks in the entire National League, not just rookies.

SNY broadcaster Gary Cohen called McLean an, “ace in the making,” and it certainly looks that way. As funny as this sounds, McLean is making a case to receive votes for the NL CY Young award, and he’s not even the favorite to win NL ROY.

Nolan McLean by Berto Carlo

In an era where effectively getting deep into games is so rare, it’s surprising when McLean doesn’t complete six innings. Over his last 13 starts, only one has ended prior to six complete innings. The consistency has been on another level this year. Especially when you factor in the issue he is facing with walking hitters, it makes the length even more impressive.

Saturday was a culmination of a really interesting trend for McLean this year. For those who may not have noticed, McLean has massively dropped his sweeper usage since the start of July. What was once an incredibly effective pitch is now the second-worst sweeper by run value in the entire major leagues. Ironically, he is only ahead of his teammate Sean Manaea.

Opposing hitters are hitting .375 with a .550 slugging percentage off of McLean’s sweeper this year. On Saturday, McLean leaned on his hard stuff to an extreme level. Of his 93 pitches, 76 of them (81.7%) were sinkers, cutters, or fastballs. He only threw two sweepers, and has opted to throw more traditional sliders in his more recent starts. A big part of this has been the fact that he hasn’t been able to spin the ball as effectively, meaning it moves less.

Whether this strategy remains effective long term still remains to be seen. However, it helps when you have one of the best sinkers in baseball to lean on. Despite having the second worst run value on sweepers this year, McLean has the best sinker in baseball, and it’s really not close. It’s his most frequent pitch, he can throw it to both lefties and righties, and he can throw it in any count. Opponents this year are hitting only .181 off the sinker and are slugging .253.

This has been a rough season for several aspects of this Mets team. Nolan McLean is not one of them. He has put himself in the mix for one of the best young pitchers in the league, something the Mets desperately need. He provides stability to the rotation, takes the ball every fifth day, and can get deep into games. Most impressively, I think there is still so much untapped potential.