Grading Christian Scott’s NY Mets season and 3 things we’d like to see him improve

Christian Scott's season came to an unceremonious end this week, as the New York Mets placed him on the injured list with knee inflammation following his final start against the Philadelphia Phillies. Therein, he slipped on the mound during warm-ups, which led to his quick hook after 4 2/3 innings.

Still, it's hard to be anything but ecstatic about his triumphant return from Tommy John surgery, which cost him the entire 2025 campaign. The 27-year-old made 23 starts and covered 110 innings for the Mets this year, posting a 3.85 ERA that various indicators (3.70 xERA, 3.61 FIP) suggested was actually a tad unlucky. By fWAR (2.1), he was the organization's second-most valuable pitcher in 2026, behind only Nolan McLean (3.5).

His emergence as a long-term option for Andy Green's rotation is deserving of an excellent grade itself, to say nothing of his excellent work in the contact management game; each of his strikeout rate, hard-hit rate, and average exit velocity allowed ranked in the 80th percentile or better this season.

Still, he's a young pitcher who barely crossed 100 innings. There's room for improvement, even if it feels a little like nitpicking.

Grading Christian Scott's 2026 season: A-

3 areas of improvement Christian Scott must address this offseason

These are presented in no particular order, though all three agenda items go hand-in-hand when it comes to helping Scott maintain his steadiness over a 162-game season.

Christian Scott must improve at the beginning of his starts

This isn't a novel issue for a young pitcher, but Scott tends to get better the more he settles into a rhythm. In his first time going through a batting order in a game, he surrendered a .731 OPS and nine of his 12 home runs on the season. In his second pass, those marks drop to .577 and three.

Whether it's an increase of the diversification of his pitches from the jump, or perhaps an overhaul in his pre-game routine to get him more prepared for the first few innings, Scott must mitigate the damage he allows early on.

Christian Scott must get better at limiting damaging free passes

It's completely reasonable that a guy coming back from such a long layoff would struggle with his control, but Scott's 9.9% walk rate this season is higher than it ever was in the minor leagues. And, to make matters worse, that figure jumped to 10.2% with no one on base, meaning a lot of the traffic he dealt with on the basepaths was self-inflicted.

He needs to attack hitters more aggressively in the zone when the potential for damage is limited. Doing so will allow him to face more hitters with no one on base -- a split in which he allowed a .651 OPS this year -- rather than having to navigate frequent situations with runners in scoring positions (.705 OPS allowed in that split).

Christian Scott must build up better durability after second trip to injured list

This is the longest-term goal here, as tossing 110 innings in his comeback season is about all we could have asked for from Scott. That total marked the first time in his pro career that he exceeded triple digits and put any discussions about him moving to a relief role to rest.

Still, he hit the IL twice this season with lower-body injuries, which doesn't bode well when we're just moving past concerns about his elbow. His underlying metrics all improved in the second half, giving credence to the idea that he'll continue to get better the further removed he is from his surgery, but it'll be hard to buy into his future if he struggles to stay on the mound.

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