NEW YORK -- Nolan McLean did not arrive in Queens with much experience in the art of being a savior.
Prior to McLean’s debut Saturday, Mets officials had all but thrown up bright yellow caution signs, begging fans not to place him on too high of a pedestal. Before this week, the North Carolina native had set foot in New York City only once in his life. He had made merely 13 career starts plus three relief appearances at Triple-A. When McLean’s parents asked their 24-year-old son how he was doing on the eve of his debut, he told them he got to eat wagyu steak twice in a day.
Welcome to the big leagues, indeed.
Privately, though, those same Mets officials harbored inexorable optimism in McLean’s potential. They knew he was good. They knew he could spin a baseball as well as nearly anyone in the sport. They just also knew they were handing McLean a tricky assignment, asking him to start for a team that had blown 11 of its past 12 leads while tumbling down the National League standings.
“To be quite honest, that’s the market we’re in,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “People are going to push players.”
What McLean accomplished amidst that context was as promising a harbinger as anyone could have hoped. McLean struck out the first batter he faced and three of the first seven. He reached behind his back to start a crucial double play in the third inning, then kept a streaking Mariners team scoreless into the sixth inning of a 3-1 win at Citi Field -- a rare victory in which the Mets took an early lead and actually held it.
“Surreal,” was how McLean described the day. “I mean, I couldn’t have dreamed it up any better.”
All told, McLean allowed two hits and four walks, joining Matt Harvey as the only Mets starters to strike out at least eight batters and earn the win in a scoreless Major League debut.
While McLean’s four-seam fastball topped out at 97 mph, that’s not the offering that most impressed. Instead, McLean befuddled Mariners hitters with pitches that bent and broke in curious ways. He froze the first batter of the game, Randy Arozarena, with a cutter for his first career strikeout. He threw his signature pitch, his sweeper, across the zone at will. His curveball featured one of the best spin rates this side of Seth Lugo.
“I think we knew he was going to spin it pretty well, and I thought he did just that,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “He had a good slider. He made some good pitches when he had to. That’s what pitching is about.”
So sharp was McLean that when Mets manager Carlos Mendoza came to remove him after 5 1/3 innings and 91 pitches (55 strikes), a sold-out Citi Field crowd erupted into boos. As soon as McLean handed Mendoza the baseball and began walking off the mound, however, those same fans rose to offer him a standing ovation.
“I heard them loud and clear,” Mendoza said. “And if I was sitting in the stands, I would be booing myself, too.”
The aggressive hook was part of a grander plan for McLean, New York’s No. 3 prospect and the 37th-ranked prospect in baseball. As much as the Mets needed a win on Saturday, they need McLean to be a developmental success story even more. They need him to be the type of pitcher who can become a rotation mainstay for years to come, perhaps eventually carrying this pitching staff. (For a glimpse into the state of the Mets’ staff, look no further than the fact that McLean set a franchise record in becoming the 43rd pitcher the club has used this season.)
But yes, on Saturday, the Mets also needed the instant gratification of a win. McLean brought them most of the way there. Half an inning after the right-hander reached behind his back to start his 1-4-3 double play -- “the ball just kind of found me on that one,” he said -- Lindor rattled an RBI double into the right-field corner to give the Mets a lead. They pressed their advantage with two late runs before leaning on Edwin Díaz for a six-out save.
All the while, McLean and his family members soaked in the day. Following the sixth inning, the Citi Field scoreboard cut to a camera shot of the rookie in the dugout. Fans began cheering, saluting their new favorite pitcher. Initially, McLean stared at the scoreboard with a sheepish grin. Then he stuck his fist in the air and pumped it at the crowd.
“You wouldn’t be able to tell that it was his first day,” Lindor said.
Afterward, the Mets made McLean the focal point of their on-field celebration before dragging him into the clubhouse and showering him with beer. For the first time in a long time, the vibes at Citi Field were unquestionably good. And there’s realistic hope things can remain this way.
Earlier this week, wary of piling too much responsibility onto McLean, Mendoza wouldn’t commit to giving McLean more than a single start in the rotation. Asked Saturday evening if the rookie had earned another, Mendoza laughed.
“I think so,” the manager said. “Don’t you?”