No shelves for these elves! Trio ready to impact Mets

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo's Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Nolan McLean knew he would be attending the Mets’ annual holiday party on Thursday, handing out presents to local schoolchildren. What he didn’t realize until closer to the event was that the Mets would dress him, Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong in green-and-red elf suits, including hats, jackets, pants and pointy shoes.

“I don’t know who Nolan is,” McLean quipped. “I’m just an elf.”

Playing caddy to this year’s Santa Claus, Clay Holmes, the three rookies caused a stir when they walked into the main room of the party, where kids were singing Christmas carols.

“It kind of reminds me of when I was a little kid,” said Tong, who kept a grin plastered on his face throughout the proceedings.

These three have become accustomed to being front and center since arriving in late summer for the playoff push. While the Mets didn’t reach their core goals, the rookie trio still transformed the team’s rotation dynamic heading into the winter. McLean, who provided eight sensational starts down the stretch, figures to lock onto a rotation spot heading into Spring Training. Sproat (the Mets' No. 5 prospect) and Tong (Mets No. 4, No. 46 in baseball) will compete for jobs alongside another youngster, Christian Scott.

“All three of us have come up together, and that’s super fun,” Sproat said, noting that the group texts each other almost every day. “You build a close bond with each other. To be able to be here with each other, it’s super fun. The friendships that we’ve made, it’s so great.”

“We’ve got a special group with the Mets,” McLean added. “It’s cool to be around all the guys every single day and just try to push each other to be better.”

This is not just about vibes, though; for the Mets to achieve their goals in 2026, they’ll need heavy contributions from a group of rookies that continues to grow and evolve. While McLean’s short-term future appears secure, Sproat and Tong don’t profile as surefire rotation members quite yet -- not with a list of incumbents including veterans Holmes, Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga and David Peterson. The Mets also continue to search for frontline rotation help on top of that, which has already resulted in Sproat’s and Tong’s names popping up in trade rumors.

Depending on what happens over the next three months, one or more young Mets starters could begin the season on another team, in the Minors, or even the bullpen. And that’s fine.

“They’re kids that are very driven,” Holmes said. “You can tell that they want to do the right thing. They want to be great. All the tools are there, so it’s exciting to see. There are definitely a lot of bright moments ahead of them.”

For now, all three rookies are in their offseason programs, ready to begin ramping up once the holidays pass. At that time, they’ll ditch the elf costumes for Mets uniforms, ready to make their second seasons better than their first.