As the Mets look toward the upcoming season, they are prepared to lean on a group of up-and-coming young hurlers. President of baseball operations David Stearns said as much at the Winter Meetings back in December.
"Certainly, over the course of the year, we are going to expect significant contributions from a group that we think is really talented and about to get to the Major League level," Stearns told reporters.
Three of those pitchers -- Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat -- did reach the Majors last season, and they experienced varying degrees of success. McLean certainly looked the part of a front-of-the-rotation arm. Tong and Sproat flashed promise, and, barring a trade, seem poised to compete for rotation spots in Spring Training.
Here's a look at where each of the three young starting pitchers stand heading into the 2026 season.
Nolan McLean
Thanks to an impressive eight-start MLB cameo late last season, McLean is already a top candidate to win the 2026 National League Rookie of the Year.
Yes, it's early, but the hype is warranted. McLean's surface-level stats -- a 5-1 record with a 2.06 ERA -- match some of his more advanced metrics, like a 2.97 FIP and a 21.8% strikeout-minus-walk rate, one of the best marks among starting pitchers to throw at least 40 innings. His pitch mix is something out of a video game: McLean covers all quadrants of the strike zone thanks to multiple fastball shapes and two breaking balls with elite spin and outlier horizontal movement.
In a small sample size, McLean also quieted some concerns, like the potential for significant platoon splits, since his sinker/sweeper combination is better suited to attack right-handed hitters. As it turns out, left-handed hitters actually fared worse (.178 BA and a 32.2% whiff rate) against McLean than righties (.225 BA and a 23.9% whiff rate).
It's easy to forget that McLean, 24, is far from a finished product. He didn't know what a sweeper was until he entered the Mets organization in the summer of 2023; now, thanks to his capacity for spin, it's a legitimate weapon. Even in '24, McLean was still a two-way player -- last season, which he began in Double-A Binghamton, was his first as a full-time pitcher. That's all to say that McLean may just be scratching the surface ahead of what should be his first full MLB season.
"The ceiling for him is incredibly high," Stearns said in December.
Jonah Tong
Like McLean, Tong received his first taste of the big leagues in the heat of the pennant race. The Mets summoned Tong to Queens after he made just two starts in Triple-A Syracuse, hoping the 22-year-old could stabilize a beleaguered rotation. That didn't quite happen: Tong pitched to a 7.71 ERA in five starts and, at times, appeared overmatched.
Some of the traits that Tong relied on to dominate the Minors didn't play the same way in the Majors. Tong's over-the-top delivery helps him generate exceptional ride on his four-seam fastball; only two pitchers averaged more induced vertical break (IVB) on their heater than Tong did last season. In the Minors, Tong's fastball generated a 36.5% swing-and-miss rate. But Major League hitters fared better, hitting .356 with a .600 SLG while the pitch induced a 22.3% whiff rate that is roughly league average. That's not a good recipe for success, especially with Tong throwing his fastball over 57% of the time -- one of the highest rates among starting pitchers (min. 200 pitches).
As Tong refines his four-pitch mix, it will be important for him to develop confidence in his other offerings. His Vulcan-style changeup took a huge step forward last season, becoming his No. 2 offering. Might he make a similar leap with his slider, which he threw just 4% of the time in the Majors? Being less predictable would help Tong limit hard contact -- he allowed eight barrels on 56 batted balls -- and generate more swing and miss, a hallmark of his in the Minors. He'll also have to get ahead of hitters more often: He threw 32.3% of his pitches when he was behind in the count, the eighth-highest percentage among 258 starting pitchers (min. 200 pitches thrown).
Tong is still only 22, and the reigning Pitching Prospect of the Year. The hype is deserved: He led the Minors with 179 strikeouts and a 1.43 ERA that ranked lowest among full-season qualifiers. We'll see what tweaks he makes to take another step forward in 2026.
Brandon Sproat
The last of the trio to reach the Majors, Sproat pitched to a 4.79 ERA in four starts last September. But other numbers -- like his 2.80 FIP -- paint a more promising picture.
Sproat showcased a complete seven-pitch mix that he used against both sided hitters, with above-average stuff. His fastball velocity, which dipped at points last summer in Triple-A, sat at 96.0 mph, which would have been in the 78th percentile of MLB had he thrown enough pitches to qualify. Sproat was the only Mets starting pitcher last season to hit 99.0 mph on the radar gun. Holding that velocity will help Sproat succeed, even if his fastball lacks the outlier shapes that Tong and McLean have.
Looking toward 2026, Sproat will have to deploy his seven-pitch mix in a way that helps mitigate the times through the order penalty -- essentially, the more times that hitters see a pitcher in a game, the harder they hit him. In a small sample size, the opposition hit just .100 against Sproat the first time that they faced him; from that point on, the opposition hit .341.
The other key area for Sproat will be missing more bats. He generated a 15.1% swing-and-miss rate, which was the lowest of 286 starting pitchers (min. 50 swings against). Sproat showed he can miss barrels, running a 50% ground-ball rate and allowing just two barrels on 58 batted balls. But whiffs are the best way to limit damage, and getting more of them could set him up for sustained success. In his four-start cameo, Sproat induced just one swing and miss with his four-seamer and only two on his changeup, one of his top whiff options in the Minors.