Montas heads to 'pen; McLean, Sproat options for Mets on Saturday

NEW YORK -- The Mets have decided to move Frankie Montas out of the rotation, opening the door for one of their top pitching prospects to debut this weekend.

Montas, who has produced a 6.38 ERA in eight outings this season, will be available out of the bullpen beginning Thursday. The Mets will then insert a new starter into their rotation Saturday against the Mariners.

While the team hasn’t revealed the identity of that pitcher, it’s highly likely to be either Nolan McLean or Brandon Sproat.

McLean, the Mets’ third-ranked prospect, has produced a 2.78 ERA over 16 games (13 starts) at Triple-A Syracuse and would be available Saturday on five days’ rest. A team source said recently that McLean was slightly ahead of Sproat on the team’s internal depth chart.

But Sproat, the Mets’ fifth-ranked prospect, has also been effective at Syracuse, brushing off a rough start to the season to go 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA over his last seven starts there.

“They continue to put themselves in a really good position,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said, “and here they are in the conversation.”

The only other realistic candidate to pitch Saturday would have been Paul Blackburn, who has been on the injured list since early July due to a right shoulder impingement. Though Blackburn is healthy at this point, the Mets plan to give him another rehab start, taking him out of contention for an immediate return to the big leagues.

That makes the Mets quite likely to dip into their farm system at an important juncture of the season. Asked specifically about McLean and Sproat, Mendoza responded: “There’s a lot to like, especially where they’re at with their development. We continue to ask a lot … and they’re getting results. So everything that we’re asking them to do, they continue to do it.”

If nothing else, change can’t be a bad thing for the Mets’ rotation, which ranks 25th in the Majors in ERA since June 13. Montas was a significant part of that problem. After missing most of the first half due to a right lat strain, Montas returned in late June but proved unable to rediscover his prime form. Over his final three outings, Montas allowed 13 earned runs in 11 1/3 innings.

“He’ll be the first one to tell you it’s been a battle for him,” Mendoza said. “He’s a competitor. He wants to start. And that’s what we brought him in for, but [he understands] that the results haven’t been there.”

In the short term, the Mets will look for soft landing spots for Montas out of the bullpen. Longer term, it’s unclear how the Mets plan to proceed with Montas, whom they signed to a two-year, $34 million contract last offseason. Montas will still have $17 million left on that contract heading into next season, assuming he does not opt out of the deal.