NY Mets coach suddenly has his first major unexpected challenge to help figure out

Bad offense has put the names Jeff Albert and Troy Snitker on notice among New York Mets fans. The issue isn’t completely on them, but the failure of the hitters often falls on the coaches whose job description requires them to assist with adjustments at the plate. 

Struggles with the fastball, non-ABS challenges, and letting meatballs slide down the middle of the plate (now I’m hungry) have been at the forefront of describing some of the issues plaguing the Mets lineup. Meanwhile, the pitching has been decent at times with one alarming trend suddenly slashing us across the face. What’s going on with Nolan McLean?

Two straight duds and a less than excellent stretch in a few more outings, we’re about to have some strong thoughts about Mets pitching coach Justin Willard.

If you haven’t already made up your mind about Mets pitching coach Justin Willard, get ready to have some strong opinions

If we’re being honest, Albert and Snitker shouldn’t get blamed for Marcus Semien’s struggles or even how poorly Bo Bichette has started. It’s the younger players and rookies whose success or failure should fall on their laps. Regression from Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez are two examples of coffee stains to place on their 2026 resumes.

With Willard, he came hyped as a young product from the Boston Red Sox organization. Only 35-years-old, it seemed like he could be the next Jeremy Hefner but without the background pitching in Major League Baseball. It would become his job to help further develop some of the team’s promising young pitchers when they reached the major leagues. McLean seemed like an easy player to manage based on the way he performed in 2025.

His first truly consecutive bad outings of his major league career, the pressure is suddenly on Willard to help find some solutions. McLean’s overall season numbers still aren’t incredibly ugly. The 4.40 ERA is bad but 75 strikeouts in 61.1 innings and a .209 batting average against are impressive for a guy this early in his career. If we were to judge him based on two straight bad outings, we’d be overlooking how impressive he has been already. It’s like dismissing Carson Benge after a few rough weeks.

Getting Nolan McLean right is the first major test for Justin Willard

Willard hasn’t been a focus of fans’ ire because with a 3.90 ERA, the Mets pitching has been right around average. Freddy Peralta has been exactly what we should’ve expected. Blowups from Devin Williams are kind of on-par with what we should’ve anticipated, too. The Mets pitchers who’ve done badly are kind of not even on Willard.

McLean took full responsibility for the bad outings as he should and needs to. Willard’s task is to make it so the next time McLean speaks after a start it’s not to explain away another sour performance. Where is that stud rookie we expected to compete for the NL Cy Young?

Hefner was highly-regarded during his time as Mets pitching coach with one easy critique we could’ve had being the lack of young pitchers the team developed. David Peterson was the closest thing to a success story. We know the deal with him.

The Mets let Hefner survive through several different regimes and with Willard, barring some disastrous consequences, should have an extended leash as well. Nobody is even close to calling for his job. However, his first major test is to guide McLean through whatever it is that has him looking like such a mess.

You might not have made up your mind about Willard just yet. One more bad start out of McLean and you better believe we'll all start to question what it is he's doing here.

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