The Mets 2025 season has seen a lot of ups and downs but with long and perilous seasons comes moments of absolute success. A team like the Mets rely heavily on their homegrown guys, rarely making big splashes in the offseason or at the trade deadline to bolster their present and future. They’d rather wait and have their own internal guys develop, which is cheaper than bringing in outside talent. The tantalizing episodes Mets fans go through—voicing their concerns about the front office and feeling impatient when top players aren’t called up sooner—are a feeling every Mets fan knows and loves. This is one of those moments when the complaints and noise from the Mets fanbase are silenced, as newly called-up RHP Nolan McLean makes a name for himself in his first two big-league outings.

For the Mets fanbase to not have complaints about their players means they’re doing something right and for the young 24 year old he hasn’t done one thing wrong yet. His first two starts are so good that they put him in the conversation for some of the best starting pitching debuts in Mets history—an accomplishment only one other pitcher has matched in their first two starts. I’ll get to that later.

In a short sample size of just two games, Nolan McClean boasts a 2-0 record over 12.1 innings, holding batters to a 1.46 ERA, striking out 15, and posting a WHIP of 0.81. His 2.95 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching, which measures performance independent of fielding) and an ERA+ of 277 further highlight his strong start. In hindsight, it’s only two games—this could be lightning in a bottle—so we shouldn’t overpraise his early success, but there is plenty of reason for optimism.

However, the rest of McLean’s year spent in the minors proves this might not be a fluke start. Nolan McLean rose to the top with his dominant performance across the ladder part of 115 innings spent between Double-AA and Triple AAA Syracuse. In his short Double AA stint, McLean dropped 30 strikeouts in 27 innings while holding batters to a 1.33 clip while balancing that out with an impressive 3-1 across his five first starts for the team. In early May McLean received the nod to play for Syracuse and be one level from reaching the majors. Across four months in Syracuse McLean showed exactly why he has the hype to be a major league starter. 5-4 record, 2.76 era in 88 innings while striking out 97 and limiting walks to just 38 was exactly all the Mets needed before making the push to call up their prospect to the majors.

The Mets have consistently struggled with their starting pitchers not being able to go deep into games. David Peterson has been an exception, reaching at least the sixth inning seven times this season. Beyond him, opportunities for length have been scarce. It took over 62 games—excluding Peterson—before another Met managed to pitch into the sixth, a feat achieved by Nolan McLean in just his second major league start. McLean had a history of going deep in games during his time in the minors, so it was no surprise when Mendoza entrusted him to finish the sixth inning.

As I said before there is a comparison the fans are making to Nolan McLean. Matt Harvey and Nolan McLean have started their careers with similar pedigree and hype. He is the second Mets pitcher to have at least 15 strikeouts over his first two MLB starts, joining Matt Harvey. Mets pitchers to win their big league debut with zero runs allowed and eight or more strikeouts: 1. Matt Harvey 2. Nolan McLean. His career just begun, it is a bit silly to compare such an illustrious Mets career of the early 2010’s to a pitcher who only has two games of professional major league experience. Regardless, it is good company to share and I am pleased with the success McLean brought with him to the Majors. I can only wait for the ladder of Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong to join their teammate on the big stage. Hopefully then, the Mets won’t have any more trouble with their rotation.