And the award for the most underrated NY Mets player from the first half goes to...

This season has been an abject disaster for the New York Mets. With a record of 40-57 heading into the All-Star break, only the Rockies have fewer wins (39) in the National League. The team's chances of making the playoffs are already at 0.8% according to FanGraphs and there's no shortage of players to blame for the Mets' current woes.

But there are still some redeeming aspects of the roster. Juan Soto is still one of the best hitters in baseball, rookie outfielders Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have exceeded expectations, and Luke Weaver has been one of the few offseason signings that hasn't disappointed. As the team prepares to possibly be one of the biggest sellers at this year's deadline, there's another young player whose first half numbers suggest that he's worth keeping around for the long haul.

Nolan McLean has demonstrated that he has what it takes to lead a big league rotation

McLean's strong albeit short rookie campaign last year set a high bar but across a more meaningful sample, he's proven that he's capable of living up to the hype. Across 107.1 innings this year, he has pitched to a 3.52 ERA and a 3.43 FIP with a 27.9% strikeout rate. These numbers are even better when considering that he had a 6.10 ERA across his six starts in May. In his seven starts since June 1st, he has a much better 2.41 ERA with a 2.86 FIP.

His best weapon has been his sinker which is the second-most valuable pitch in baseball in terms of run value (19) behind just Jacob Misiorowski's four-seam fastball (21). His four-seam fastball and curveball have also been effective for him with the latter boasting an impressive 38.2% whiff rate.

The rest of his arsenal does need some work, however. McLean has become known for the absurd movement profile of his sweeper but it has been responsible for a lot of his issues. Opposing hitters are slugging .528 against the pitch and although the stuff is good on paper, it has a chase rate of just 15.8%. His cutter suffers from similar issues with opposing hitters slugging .771 off the pitch.

The team's offense hasn't exactly done their part in his starts but McLean shouldn't feel totally responsible for that. It seems odd to say for a team with a payroll just under $360 million but it seems that the Mets' best chance of competing for a World Series is still a few years away. Outside of Juan Soto, the future of the club seems to lie in the hands of a few players early on in their big league careers. Given the way he has pitched over these past few months, Nolan McLean has shown that he has the stuff to lead the rotation when that time comes.

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