Promotion for NY Mets prospect doesn’t need to be his last of 2025

Sailing was smooth for the New York Mets bullpen until recent massive blows to the health of their pair of lefties. The team lost A.J. Minter and Danny Young to season-ending injuries. Bound to see the health of others falter as well, the grind of a 162-game schedule is sure to test the might of the Mets depth chart beyond the 26 and 40-man rosters.

A carousel of relievers and a couple of starters/long relievers have found their way to the big leagues in recent weeks. This is a team dependent on a sixth starter for the sake of Kodai Senga thus the added pressure to have enough wiggle room with the roster. It’s an all-hands-on-deck type of year where, in any role possible, the Mets need to be open to adding the best players to the big league roster.

For a pitcher like Nolan McLean who just made the leap from Double-A to Triple-A, it could provide him with a chance to see the majors in a different role.

Why get in the way of Mets prospect Nolan McLean from making the majors this year?

In a recent minor league mailbag from Joe DeMayo, he made a valid point about David Stearns’ track record with talented young pitchers. Corbin Burnes appeared in 62 games in 2018 and 2019, making only 4 starts. Brandon Woodruff made 15 relief appearances and 4 starts in 2018. Freddy Peralta logged 54 games in 2019 and 2020 with only 9 starts.

Stearns has a way of doing things and as DeMayo points out, our beloved President of Baseball Operations has said he won’t always do things the same way he did with the Milwaukee Brewers. A much bigger vault to help him push things on the financial side of things will allow him extended creativity. 

The Mets have been guilty of holding back some prospects a little too long, but Stearns hasn’t chained top pitching prospects to Triple-A. Christian Scott and Blade Tidwell made their MLB debuts exactly one year apart on May 4. Scott had a chance to stick around for the duration of last season if not for Tommy John Surgery. Tidwell should be a contender right there alongside McLean as a later season bullpen consideration.

An upcoming logjam of starting pitchers, dependent on their health, will have the Mets shifting things around beyond merit. Optional starting pitchers might end up in Syracuse. Others could slide into a relief role. Those decisions aren’t always fun to fantasize about—Paul Blackburn pitching in relief offering fans very little appeal. The idea of Tidwell returning in a relief role, the debut of McLean as a reliever, or maybe the most anticipated debut of all via Brandon Sproat, isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Because most of the players available at the trade deadline tend to be out of option relievers, logic dictates the team is in better shape from a flexibility standpoint with young arms they intend to have as starters within a year or two.

Don’t count on too many young Mets starting pitching prospects ending up in the bullpen this year, but set aside some birthday money to bet on at least one of them getting a significant opportunity.