ATLANTA -- For a pitcher such as Nolan McLean, who prides himself on adapting pitch to pitch, inning to inning, game to game, week to week, there are few challenges quite so engaging as facing a team multiple times. Tuesday, McLean proved he was up to that challenge.
Facing the Braves for the fourth time in his young career, the third time this season and the second time in five weeks, McLean held Atlanta to one run and one hit over six innings at Truist Park. It was a solid rebound from his last outing, in which McLean allowed five runs to the Guardians on Thursday, though that one resulted in a win for McLean. This one turned into a 4-0 loss to the Braves.
“I thought he bounced back early from being behind [in counts] pretty consistently,” interim manager Andy Green said. “He really found his groove there for a while. Just a great six innings of work.”
The only damage McLean allowed came on a leadoff homer by Ozzie Albies, who jumped on an 0-2 fastball in the fifth inning to record the game’s first run. That pitch, McLean said, could have been a bit more elevated, but it was mostly where he wanted it. Green noted that “the pitch plays if he gets it there -- he threw it with conviction, just got it to the wrong spot.”
Still, that was enough to put McLean on the hook for a loss. Jefry Yan relieved the right-hander and walked three of the five batters he faced, doubling Atlanta’s margin and decreasing the Mets’ odds of a comeback.
“It was fairly executed,” McLean said of the home run pitch. “I wasn’t trying to really punch him by any means for the strikeout there, but I would have liked it slightly more elevated. He made a good swing on a pitch that was pretty close to the outside corner, so I tip my cap.”
Through 24 starts, McLean holds a 3.42 ERA. But he has a 2.81 ERA in his three outings against the Braves, putting up a better stat line each time he’s faced them.
That speaks to McLean’s ability to make adjustments within games, noting what opposing hitters are trying to do to him and altering his strategies accordingly. It also speaks to McLean’s staying power in this league. Later this week, McLean will celebrate the one-year anniversary of his callup, when he joined the Mets during a playoff push and pitched to a 2.06 ERA in eight starts down the stretch.
This year, McLean hasn’t been quite so dominant. He’s fallen behind in counts more consistently, walked more batters than he did last season and allowed more hits -- the latter a product of opposing teams forcing him to throw fastballs in the strike zone when he proves wild. But those are mostly nitpicks for McLean, who’s still technically a rookie in his age-24 season. Through 32 career starts -- roughly a full season of work -- McLean is 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA.
“I think a lot of it’s working out in between your starts, not really changing your routine,” McLean said. “Even if you don’t feel the best in between the starts, just getting in the weight room and getting after it anyway to keep the strength up.”
As Mets officials shift their focus from 2026 to ’27, McLean is one player about whom they don’t have to worry. He’ll be at or near the top of the Opening Day rotation, likely alongside Christian Scott. Plenty of question marks follow those two, but in McLean, at least, the Mets have found a pitcher both talented and adaptable.
“He’s doing great,” Green said. “Eighty-five pitches, six innings and one run and one hit? That’s a good day’s work for him in August in his first year.”