{"id":682968,"date":"2026-04-26T03:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/682968\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T03:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:24:23","slug":"mets-nolan-mclean-trying-to-fix-concerning-trend-late-in-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/682968\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets’ Nolan McLean trying to fix concerning trend late in starts"},"content":{"rendered":"

In five games, few pitchers in baseball have been better than Nolan McLean the first two times through an opposing order.<\/p>\n

Among 116 qualifiers entering play Saturday, when the Mets were rained out,<\/a> his .143 batting average against ranked fifth, his .211 on-base percentage against sixth and .248 slugging percentage against ninth with a 2.67 ERA.<\/p>\n

The third time through the order, however, one of the best pitchers in baseball morphs into one of the worst in the early going. <\/p>\n

Among 100 pitchers who had logged at least four innings of work against an order a third time through, his .348 average against ranked 88th, .375 OBP against 78th and .609 slugging percentage against 91st with a 10.80 ERA.<\/p>\n

\"NewNolan McLean reacts during the Mets\u2019 April 21 loss to the Twins. Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The next step for McLean\u2019s ascent has become obvious: He needs to maintain his stuff and keep opposing hitters guessing deeper in games.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I just got to execute pitches a little bit better,\u201d McLean said Tuesday. \u201cMaybe do a little more homework on how guys are adjusting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old, technically a rookie, was speaking after taking a perfect game into the sixth inning \u2014 for a second time this season \u2014 in a matchup with the Twins, who then began to figure him out.<\/p>\n

In the sixth, Minnesota recorded its first hit, a Matt Wallner single, before turning the order over. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Leadoff hitter Byron Buxton, in his third time seeing McLean, smacked a two-run homer. <\/p>\n

Further trouble awaited McLean an inning later, when a Kody Clemens double and RBI single from Luke Keaschall ensured that on a night McLean\u2019s stuff was excellent, his stat line (6 \u00b2\/\u2083 innings, three runs) was ordinary in what became a loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"NewNolan McLean throws a pitch during his April 21 start against the Twins. Robert Sabo for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Every pitcher becomes more hittable the more he sees an opponent, whether due to familiarity or fatigue.<\/p>\n

McLean \u2014 whose breaking pitches often seem inhuman, such is his ability to spin a baseball \u2014 can begin making his adjustments\u00a0when he pitches Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Rockies\u00a0at Citi Field on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese [opposing] guys are getting paid to play baseball for a living, too,\u201d McLean said last week. \u201c\u2026 But I\u2019ve got to execute better at the end of the day.\u201d<\/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

Sunday\u2019s single-admission doubleheader will begin at 1:40. <\/p>\n

Game 2 will start 30-45 minutes after the end of Game 1.<\/p>\n

Tickets to Saturday\u2019s game are not valid for admission to the makeup doubleheader. <\/p>\n

Fans holding a ticket in their account for Saturday\u2019s game will receive a digital voucher that will be accessible Sunday morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In five games, few pitchers in baseball have been better than Nolan McLean the first two times through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,2517,185],"class_list":["post-682968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets","tag-nolan-mclean","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116468873421012104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682968","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=682968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}