Player Breakdowns: May 5th

Nolan McLean & Noble Meyer

Player Breakdowns:

Nolan McLean (NYM) - High-A:

Nolan McLean was his bulldog self in this outing — receiving the ball from his battery mate and immediately ready for his delivery — so much so that batters had to take a time-out after he got ahead in the count because he was working too quickly. They tried to throw off his rhythm or they just tried to catch their own breath. I don’t exaggerate when I say McLean works as fast as anyone I’ve seen this year.

Yesterday was probably McLean’s best outing of the year as his final line was 5IP 3H 0ER 1BB 8K. That was his real line too, there weren’t any discrepancies between what actually happened and what should’ve happened like in previous starts. He only allowed 6 balls in play the entire outing, 3 of which were hits and 3 weak outs. I’ve written extensively about McLean in the offseason and several player breakdowns and have adamantly stated that he can be a Major League caliber, high-leverage reliever today. I stand by that statement. If you’ve yet to read what I’ve written this offseason, I will post it below. Here is what I wrote:

Nolan McLean was drafted as a pitcher out of Oklahoma State to the Baltimore Orioles in the third round of the 2022 draft but decided to return to college for his Junior year. The following year, he was drafted again in the third round as a two-way player but this time by the Mets. Can you believe that? The Mets picking up on the Orioles’ scraps when it comes to prospects. It’s a change in the guard and it’s something I’ve been saying for a while now. The Mets have a legitimate pitching factory on their hands and they knew exactly what they were doing when they drafted McLean as a “two-way” player.

Appease the kid all he wants when it comes to his dream of being White Ohtani, but the reality is that it’s just not likely. He’s going to stick as a pitcher and he’s one of the more unheralded arms out there going into this season. He has a heavy-riding fastball that touches 98-99 and can sit mid-90s. He’s athletic as all hell on the mound and uses his lower half to help generate velocity. Once his front leg is planted, he externally rotates and drives right through his hips to deliver the ball at a low angle.

Let’s get to his slider. During the Spring Breakout game that he pitched, he threw a slider that was 87 mph and had over 3280 RPM according to Statcast. That’s a legitimate outlier pitch — and an outlier pitch at any level, even the Major League level. It would put his slider among one of the best in baseball. The ball started on the inside part of the plate and ended up at the batter’s ankles. Even without Statcast, you could immediately gauge that this was a nasty offering. He got his slider/cutter up to about 90-91 at its hardest. Either way, the spin on this pitch is going to be the scary part. And I think we’re underrating him severely given what looks like an elite two-pitch pairing. While that gives him a lot of reliever risk, I think the stuff can play into being one of the more dominant relievers in the game.

At Oklahoma State, he was tasked with two jobs, both hitting and pitching, and he still had a 148 Stuff+ on his fastball and a 123 Stuff+ on his slider which was still showing 3000+ RPM levels of spin. His chase rate was 19.2%. His stuff was no secret and his falling to the third round was a steal, especially to an organization that’s going to maximize his offerings and develop him with Eric Jagers up his ass. Speaking of Eric Jagers and the Mets pitching lab, let’s get to the next name on this list.

He has an outlier sweeper that hit ~ 3200 RPM yesterday and his fastball sat mostly 94-95 and touched 96+. It was the sweeper which kept hitters off balance all day though, whether it was a swinging strike or a called strike. In this outing, it was mostly called strikes though. Hitters seemed to be sitting dead red on the fastball and he’d hit them with a backdoor sweeper or slider to catch them looking. I’ve been asked whether there’s a scenario in which McLean can be a viable mid-rotation or better starter and the answer I think lies in whether or not he can develop his changeup further. At this point, it’s no secret that he can get deep into games — he can get by in the lower minors with just his sweeper and fastball combination as a Starter. If he’s to continue this success as a starter in the upper minors, he’s going to need to up the usage of his changeup and make it an effective out-pitch. That’s the only thing I can see holding him back from being a viable Major League starter — and don’t get me wrong — this two-pitch mix he has right now — I’ll reiterate is good enough to make him a Major League bullpen piece and a dangerous one at that.

Let’s get into yesterday’s start.