The Mets will call up top pitching prospect Nolan McLean to make his MLB debut this Saturday, reports SNY’s Andy Martino. He’ll step into the rotation spot vacated by Frankie Montas’ move to the bullpen. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported earlier this morning that righty Paul Blackburn was also headed to the bullpen when he’s ready to be reinstated from the injured list, setting the stage for either McLean or fellow prospect Brandon Sproat to make his debut.
As we noted yesterday when the Mets moved Montas to the ’pen, the Saturday start aligns far better with McLean’s turn in the Triple-A rotation than with that of Sproat. McLean has also simply outpitched Sproat this season, though both well-regarded prospects have excelled recently.
The timing of the move likely isn’t a coincidence. Saturday marks the first day on the calendar where there’s not enough time remaining for players to accrue enough service to exhaust their rookie eligibility. By waiting until Saturday to promote McLean, the Mets have ensured that he’ll still qualify as a rookie next season and therefore still be able to earn the Mets potential future draft picks via the league’s Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) program. In all likelihood, McLean is just one of several top prospects around the league who’ll be promoted after Aug. 15.
McLean, 24, was the Mets’ third-round pick in 2023. He’s rated as one of the system’s more promising young arms since that selection, but his stock has exploded in 2025 as he’s ripped through Double-A and Triple-A lineups. McLean has pitched a combined 113 2/3 innings between those two levels and compiled a tidy 2.45 ERA while punching out 27.2% of his opponents. His 10.7% walk rate is still too high, but his huge 54.7% ground-ball rate can help to erase a few of those free passes by way of the double-play ball.
This year’s terrific run has not only vaulted McLean toward the top of the Mets’ in-house prospect lists — it’s made him a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport. He sits 37th among all big league prospects at MLB.com, 40th at Baseball America and 53rd at FanGraphs on each outlet’s post-deadline reranking of the sport’s top young talents.
The 6’2″, 215-pound McLean is an Oklahoma State product whose athleticism draws plenty of praise. He was a two-sport star in high school, playing both baseball and football, and he was a two-way player at OSU, where he was a third baseman and outfielder in addition to his work on the mound. He’s since dialed in only on pitching and experienced an uptick in velocity, now sitting 95 mph with a four-seamer that can climb to 98 mph when he needs to reach back for a bit extra. MLB.com’s report on McLean calls his sweeper a “monster” of a pitch with “elite” spin rate. He’s sitting 85.5 mph with that pitch and also mixing in a sinker, cutter and seldom-used changeup.
Because McLean will retain rookie eligibility going into next year, he could earn the Mets a draft pick down the line. If McLean were to win National League Rookie of the Year or finish top-three in NL MVP voting next season, the Mets would gain that pick. Even if McLean doesn’t hit either of those goals, the fact that he’ll be a top-100 prospect who accrued a full year of service as a rookie opens a three-year window for him to net the Mets a compensatory pick based on award voting. If McLean were to land any top-three finish in Cy Young or MVP voting before reaching arbitration, the Mets would still gain a pick. Players can only net their team one pick under the league’s PPI program, but the timing of his promotion means McLean could do so at any point from 2026-28.
Setting aside the PPI aspect of the promotion, McLean’s promotion comes at a time when he cannot accrue a year of service this season. He’ll be controllable for at least six full years beyond the current campaign — potentially more than that, depending on whether he’s optioned at any point in the future. The earliest he could become a free agent would be after the 2031 season, and the earliest McLean could qualify for arbitration would be following the 2028 season.
I still think Mets should have made a Godfather offer for Skenes a few weeks ago. They have money and prospects.
Skenes is unavailable
Cohen should have told the Pirates, I’ll pay your team payroll for the next 3 seasons for Skenes
So like 30K and an extra dollar hot dog night? Pirates payroll barely gets you a room at the Super 8.
A “Godfather offer” as in the Mafia?
As in “an offer they can’t refuse.”
What if Cohen offered to pay for the Pirates vending machines for the next three seasons, would Nutting okay that deal for Skenes?
@mlbnyyfan
Just don’t pitch him in Milwaukee. He is not good in that ballpark this year.
you know who had a good start in Milwaukee the other day? Jose Quintana, great season for the Brewers.
metzfan you have to stop thinking that the world revolves around our baseball team. the Pirates also want to win and aren’t giving up the best pitcher in baseball with 4 years of control
The Pirates aren’t trading Skenes until he reaches his arbitration years. Hopefully the Bucs will have a new GM in place that will get a Soto-to-the-Padres like return.
Pirate fans would revolt if he were traded and it would be terrible for baseball
Now send Holmes to the pen and bring up Sproat. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Benge in September.
yes yes and yes!!!
metzfan you can’t keep bringing people up without sending people down and there’s no one left to send down. they will bring up Sproat on September 1st when the rosters expand
They can release Stanek.
I would like to see Stanek off the roster, but I think it’s unlikely right now. Not because the Mets are loath to eat money, but because he’s just talented and fiery enough that if the Mets were to DFA him, another playoff contender could take a flyer on him and you know Stanek would be lights out should he ever pitch against the Mets down the stretch or in the playoffs.
Ideally the Mets would DFA Stanek and he’d get claimed by a team that’s long out of the race and just needs warm bodies to survive the rest of the year (e.g. Braves, White Sox) but I don’t think the Mets risk that. Hope I’m wrong.
Both McLean and Sproat will be hampered by innings limits. It is possible they could be used a bullpen game starters every 6th day with putch counts uo to 50. Fans might not like the idea if limits but they are a thing and not going away.
Every starter on the team is practically on an innings limit. There would be no diffrence except the quality of the innings.
I’ll be at the game Saturday lets gooooo!
The top 4 records at game 60 have all choked
So glad they went this route instead of retreading Blackburn out there.
Will Sproat get his cup of coffee this year or just McLean? Would be cool to see both get their taste of big league action at the same time.
I could see it if Holmes continues to struggle. Sproat has pitched extremely well over the last month or so, too. Last seven starts, 39 innings, 19 hits, 13 walks, 43 Ks, 1.15 ERA, 0.82 WHIP. They could slide Holmes to the bullpen and run Sproat out there.
So, who in the bullpen has options and won’t have to be DFA’d to make room for them?
Hagenman? Although he’s been decent & I’d rather see Stanek get DFA’d. That’s unlikely.
Totally agree, Bill. Stanek has been awful and he’s pitched worse than the last handful of guys the Mets have rotated in, even given their small sample sizes/low leverage situations (Austin Warren, Rico Garcia, Hagenman, Devenski, Herget). Stanek has had plenty of opportunities to right the ship but hasn’t done it.
Astros will take him back. My favorite reliever when he was with the ‘Stros.
Yup, I’ll take any of those guys over Stanek. Hopefully his days are numbered. This could be a strong pen for the stretch and the post season if everyone pitches up to their potential.
Id take Stanek over Tyler Rogers and you traded Butto, Tidwell and Gilbert for Rogers.
That’s ridiculous. You obviously only look at velocity and not outcomes.
“Id take Stanek over Tyler Rogers”
A take shared by literally no one in baseball. Maybe the silliest thing I’ve ever seen posted here.
He is going to get crushed by major league hitters
metzfan right because you know more than everyone else in baseball
Ignore them. They’re just a Mets hater.
You could make that prediction for any SP call-up. You’d be right most of the time and annoying all of the time
metzfan This part of the article makes absolutely no sense. Blackburn going to the bullpen has nothing to do with McLean making his debut since he already will have been there and Sproat can’t come up till September 1st
Who’s more dead NYM or NYY?
I hope his he gets walk out music. And he chooses Lean Back by Fat Joe.
Why does metzfan have a perpetual self-dialogue?
Keep Hagenman up, I would cut Montas even thou he’s owed $$ for next year and release Stanek, for the 2 spots of McLean and Blackburn
Blackburn is as bad as Montas.
Hagenman probably goes down considering he pitched 4 innings last night