QUEENS, NY — If the red flags for Nolan McLean are not being raised, they’re getting awfully close.
The rookie that was supposed to be the New York Mets’ 1A arm alongside Freddy Peralta was shelled for a second straight start on Monday evening in a 7-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field.
After a stretch earlier this month in which they won 11 of 16 games, the Mets (22-32) have now gone 2-6 in their last eight, including a current drought of four straight defeats.
The right-hander lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing seven runs on five hits with six strikeouts, two walks, two hit batters, and two home runs allowed. Over his last two starts (9.0 innings), he has allowed 13 earned runs.
“It’s a combination of things,” McLean said. “Getting behind in counts, not landing my offspeed pitches like I should, and I’ve been hitting guys with two strikes, too, which isn’t a great recipe for success.”
The main culprit appears to be overworking himself in between starts. The 24-year-old admitted that he “might have got a little bit too much after it,” and that fatigue set in early, leading to a considerable drop-off.
He looked as though he would make that May 19 start against the Washington Nationals an anomaly after striking out the side in the first inning. But he hit Sal Stewart to lead off the second, then allowed a single and a walk to load the bases.
A failed double play brought in the game’s first run, then a wild pitch brought home a second.
“It’s just bad pitching,” McLean said. “I’m just gonna be straight up. I just haven’t been pitching my best, and I have to be better.”
In the third, JJ Bleday, who looks like Major League Baseball’s early bargain of the season, mashed a 95-mph fastball that McLean left middle-middle to the Shea Bridge in right-center to make it 3-0.
McLean came completely undone in the fourth, allowing four runs without recording an out in the frame. He walked Eugenio Suarez and gave up a Nathaniel Lowe double. Both scored on a Spencer Steer single. Tyler Stephenson then rocketed a two-run home run out to left to make it 7-0. His outing mercifully came to an end one batter later when he plunked Blake Dunn on an 0-2 curveball.
“I felt like my legs left me pretty early today,” McLean said. “So it’s always that balance of working on stuff and not doing too much at the same time so you can be efficient in your next start, and I just wasn’t today.”
This looks nothing like the young ace-in-the-making that dazzled upon his two-month MLB debut last season and looked just as solid to start the 2026 campaign. He owned a 2.92 ERA and 0.96 WHIP across his first nine outings this season.
“I want to go out there and win. That’s my job,” McLean said. “My team’s counting on me every five days to go out there and compete. It’s been two uncompetitive starts in a row, so I’ve got to play better.”
His struggles on Monday gave the Mets’ scuffling offense less than a 0% chance, though a better showing likely would not have done much to reverse the team’s fate. The New York bats were held to just two runs, which came on a sixth-inning solo shot by Marcus Semien and an RBI groundout from Carson Benge one frame later, and have been held to six runs in their last five games and 10 runs in their last 61 innings.
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