Nolan McLean Gives Mets Enough Reason for Hope in Sweep Clinching Win

It wasn't great, but it was enough to spark some confidence.

The Mets' outlook is bright, and a lot of that has to do with Nolan McLean. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Mets' starting pitching has been rocky of late, and Nolan McLean's struggles have been at the heart of it. The young ace was bombarded in both of his prior two outings, ballooning his ERA to 4.40 entering action on Sunday, easily the worst it has been in any capacity as a Major League starter. A day after a gem from running mate Christian Scott, it was McLean's turn to try to keep the Marlins at bay.

Over five innings of work, McLean walked five hitters, struck out just two, but only allowed one run on two hits. He threw 94 pitches, 56 of which were for strikes. Command was clearly once again a problem for him, but he was able to navigate the traffic on the bases well and limit the damage to just one run. The 24-year-old righty escaped a bases-loaded jam with two outs in the fourth, keeping his outing significantly better than it could have been.

Nolan McLean's gets his first strikeout of the day to finish off his first 1-2-3 inning of the day 💪 pic.twitter.com/SWdzmuJUvy

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 31, 2026

Before his gutsy outing against the Marlins, McLean had been tagged for 16 runs—13 of which were earned—in his two prior starts against the Nationals and Reds. That equates to 41.9% of the total amount of earned runs he has given up in 2026, just an absurd amount, but also a clear anomaly relative to how good he is.

The most important thing he could have done against the Marlins was to keep the runs allowed as minimal as possible, which he was able to accomplish in his third win of the year.

Nolan McLean's performance vs. Marlins should give the Mets confidence about a turnaround

Much like Jonah Tong against the Reds earlier in the week, it was far from the best outing of McLean's career, but it was a vitally important one.

At face value, he lowered his ERA and earned a win, but it was also a gutsy outing on a day in which his command was simply not good. If McLean is going to be the ace the Mets are dreaming of, starts like these will be critical in his development. And much like Tong, he was able to navigate his poor command and poor strikeout stuff to turn in an effective outing and give the Mets offense more than enough room to do their thing.

McLean's season marks now sit at a 3-4 record with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.116 WHIP, but there are still plenty of clear areas of improvement. As mentioned before, command has been a major issue for him in his most recent starts. He has walked 14 batters in May, with 12 of them coming in his last four starts. The Marlins' lineup wasn't able to make him pay for that, but a lineup with more star power, such as the Padres', might make those walks come back to hurt him.

With the news that the Mets are going with a bullpen game on Monday against the Mariners, McLean gutting out five full innings seems even more important. It allowed the Mets to use only David Peterson in relief, who was never going to work back-to-back games anyway. The Mets will have a fully rested bullpen tomorrow aside from the lefty, which allows them to use their best in a bullpen game.

Austin Warren will start a bullpen game for the Mets tomorrow in Seattle.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) May 31, 2026

Most importantly, though, McLean showed that he can gut out good outings on days where his stuff is bad. Plenty of aces have come through Queens in the last 15 years or so, and all of them have been able to work through their tougher days and remain effective. For the first time in his career, McLean was able to do just that, and it should give fans and the team even more confidence that he can become their ace of the next 10 years.