slated to pitch March 10 against Team Italy, <\/a>and if the U.S. advances to the final of the tournament March 17, McLean will get the ball then, as well.<\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s a great honor,\u2019\u2019 McLean said of Team USA manager Mark DeRosa naming him the potential starter for the tournament finale. \u201cBut there\u2019s a lot of baseball to be played [and] a lot of really good teams out there. My job is to go out there, compete against Italy, do the best I can and be a good teammate for the rest of the games. Then, hope we make the finals and I get the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/comes-off-fourth-inning-houston-122277443.jpg\")
Mets pitcher Nolan McLean (26) comes off after the fourth inning against the Houston Astros during Spring Training at Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
The Mets are no doubt relieved McLean was back on the mound Wednesday, after the 24-year-old was struck by symptoms that included dizziness and a loss of appetite for much of last week before they began to dissipate over the weekend.<\/p>\n
During Wednesday\u2019s outing, which lasted about 55 pitches, he showed no effects of the issues he dealt with that led to his delay in getting to the WBC.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
McLean said he felt \u201cpretty good, almost too loose, at times,\u2019\u2019 while on the mound.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich I guess is a good thing,\u2019\u2019 McLean added. \u201cI felt a little erratic, but I think I was just fired up to get out there. It\u2019s hard to explain. I like feeling a little tightness and soreness \u2014 I don\u2019t know what you want to call it \u2014 when I\u2019m out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlos Mendoza noted McLean\u2019s velocity was up, which was another positive sign.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The results were promising and now McLean appears set to take the next step in his development as a top-tier pitcher, joining a pitching staff that includes not just Mets teammate Clay Holmes, but aces like Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and Logan Webb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to pick their brains,\u2019\u2019 McLean said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a bunch of Cy Youngs in that building. I\u2019m excited to learn from them and see how they do everything and watch from afar.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll first have to make sure he bounces back fine Thursday and meet with the training staff, but McLean was encouraged.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had no symptoms out there throwing, which I think was the ultimate test,\u2019\u2019 McLean said.<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/throws-first-inning-houston-astros-122277183.jpg\")
Mets pitcher Nolan McLean (26) throws in the first inning against the Houston Astros during Spring Training at Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in West Palm Beach, FL. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
If all goes according to plan, his teammates in Port St. Lucie will be paying attention to how McLean pitches on the big stage, and prospect Carson Benge has little doubt he\u2019ll succeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like he just goes out there and has fun,\u201d said Benge, who played with McLean at Oklahoma State. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t care who\u2019s out there or who he\u2019s going up against. That\u2019s all you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT ST. LUCIE \u2014 It was mostly quiet, with not many people in the makeshift stands, for Nolan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,2517,185,151,4819,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-606977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mets","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-mets","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkmets","15":"tag-nolan-mclean","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-spring-training","18":"tag-team-usa","19":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116174512268024322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=606977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}