{"id":149398,"date":"2025-08-16T02:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T02:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149398\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T02:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T02:35:11","slug":"nolan-mcleans-first-mets-call-up-is-a-dream-come-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/149398\/","title":{"rendered":"Nolan McLean&#8217;s first Mets call-up is a &#8216;dream come true&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nolan McLean had just finished up his bullpen session on Wednesday when Triple-A Syracuse pitching coach A.J. Sager had some news to share.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe just said, \u2018It\u2019s really cool when we get to see everybody\u2019s hard work come from a homegrown guy and pay off,\u2019 \u201d the 24-year-old McLean recalled Friday afternoon before the Mets opened a three-game series against the Mariners at Citi Field. \u201cHe pointed at me and tossed me the ball and said, \u2018McLean\u2019s throwing on Saturday.\u2019 I was excited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the Mets <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/13\/sports\/nolan-mcleans-mets-arrival-new-chapter-for-cowboy-ohtani\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">finally called up their top pitching prospect<\/a> to try and jumpstart their struggling starting rotation amid losses in 13 of their last 15 games.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan McLean is pictured before the Mets\u2019 Aug. 15 game against the Mariners. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n<p>McLean <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/13\/sports\/mets-calling-up-top-prospect-nolan-mclean-to-start-saturday\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will make his long-awaited debut<\/a> in an afternoon matinee against Seattle on Saturday, in front of a home crowd that will include \u201cquite a few\u201d members of his friends and family.<\/p>\n<p>The fans have been itching for this.<\/p>\n<p>The Mets need this.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last 52 games, during which the Mets have gone an embarrassing 19-33, their starters have posted baseball\u2019s fifth-worst ERA (5.30) and amassed the fewest innings in MLB. <\/p>\n<p>Nolan McLean pitches during a March 15 game. Diamond Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>They recently completed an entire rotation turn without a single starter lasting five innings.<\/p>\n<p>As their lead over the Reds for the final NL wild-card spot shrunk to just a half-game following <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/14\/sports\/mets-waste-solid-kodai-senga-start-in-loss-to-braves\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thursday\u2019s 4-3 loss to the Braves<\/a>, the Mets are hoping the kid can provide a much-needed jolt to finish the 2025 season strong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the thing for me is just going out there and trusting my stuff,\u201d McLean said of how to balance wanting to make an impression with keeping it simple. \u201cTrying to enjoy the moment and just compete with everything I got. At the same time, being able to pick everybody\u2019s brains here and get some experience, some opinions on other things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manager Carlos Mendoza has indicated the plan is to give McLean \u2014 who has posted a 2.78 ERA in 16 appearances (13 starts) this season for Triple-A Syracuse \u2014 an extended look.<\/p>\n<p>Everything McLean has shown in the minors this season indicates he could be exactly what the Mets need. <\/p>\n<p>He has thrown at least six innings in nine starts this season, in addition to reaching at least 90 pitches seven times.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The right-hander is said to have a deep bag of pitch types, his most exciting being a sweeper that registers in the mid-80s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople in player development [say] he\u2019s a big-league pitcher,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cAnd then the other thing I told him is to just have fun. Have fun, go out there and be yourself. We\u2019re not expecting heroes here. Just go out there and be yourself. Give us a chance to win a baseball game and he just smiled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>McLean is one of three key pitching prospects in the Mets cupboard \u2014 along with <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/08\/07\/sports\/mets-jonah-tong-has-blossoming-as-top-minor-league-pitcher\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat<\/a> \u2014 who the fanbase has been clamoring for.<\/p>\n<p>Nolan McLean watches the Mets\u2019 Aug. 15 game against the Mariners from the dugout. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Nolan McLean (r.) talks to Pete Alonso before the Mets\u2019 Aug. 15 game against the Mariners. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n<p>Selected with the 91st overall pick in 2023, the Willow Spring, N.C., native is the first member of the Mets\u2019 draft class that year to reach the majors.<\/p>\n<p>When McLean heard he\u2019d be making his debut, he first called his mom, then his fiance.<\/p>\n<p>Though he was a bit surprised to hear he got the call, the young hurler plans to just take it one game at a time. <\/p>\n<p>Being able to throw strikes with most of his pitches on any count, he said, is why the 2025 season has gone so well for him so far.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember telling my dad when I was really little, seeing some big leaguers play, I\u2019m like I want to do that. It seems like fun playing baseball for a living. It\u2019s definitely a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nolan McLean had just finished up his bullpen session on Wednesday when Triple-A Syracuse pitching coach A.J. Sager&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":149399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1266,405,403,1305,5226,5225,85371,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-149398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-mets","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-nolan-mclean","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115036115746180169","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}