A standout on the baseball diamond as well as the gridiron, Nolan McLean was a two-sport star while attending the eponymously named Garner High School in Garner, North Carolina. As a football player, he lettered three years and threw for 6809 yards for 62 touchdowns. He was a three year letterman in baseball as well, dominating on both sides of the ball. As a batter, he hit a cumulative .381/.589/.719 in 53 games with 11 doubles, 0 triples, 12 home runs, 7 stolen bases in 8 attempts, and drew 64
walks to 28 strikeouts. As a pitcher, he posted a cumulative 2.05 ERA in 54.2 innings over 26 games with 38 hits allowed, 25 walks, and 88 strikeouts. His senior season was mostly a wash because of the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the baseball season, leading to him honor his commitment to Oklahoma State University. There was a chance that, had the season not been cancelled prematurely, McLean be drafted by a professional team in a high enough round to have made it worthwhile for him, but because of the uncertainty of the pandemic and the extremely abbreviated 2020 MLB Draft, he elected to signal to teams that he would be attending college and went undrafted.
Overview
Name: Nolan McLean
Position: RHP
Born: 07/24/2001 (Age 24 season in 2026)
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 215 lbs.
Bats/Throws: R/R
Acquired: 2023 MLB Draft, 3rd Round (Oklahoma State University)
2025 Stats: 5 G (5 GS), 26.1 IP, 20 H, 4 R, 4 ER (1.37 ERA), 12 BB, 30 K, .313 BABIP (Double-A) / 16 G (13 GS), 87.1 IP, 58 H, 31 R, 27 ER (2.78 ERA), 38 BB, 97 K, .239 BABIP (Triple-A) / 8 G (8 GS), 48.0 IP, 34 H, 13 R, 11 ER (2.44 ERA), 16 BB, 57 K, .275 BABIP (MLB)
Unlike many prep players who go to college, Benge did not abandon football to focus only on baseball. In the fall of 2020, he made the Oklahoma State football team as a walk-on as the third-string quarterback. He did not appear in any official games for the 8-3 Cowboys, who went on to win the 2020 Cheez-It Bowl, beating the Miami Hurricanes 37-34. When the football season ended, his focus returned back to baseball. He appeared in 39 games for Oklahoma State, missing some time from a back injury, and hit .263/.410/.526 with 10 doubles, 1 triple, 8 home runs, 1 stolen base in 2 attempts, and drew 27 walks to 50 strikeouts, playing all over the infield and outfield. Additionally, he appeared in a pair of games on the mound, giving up 4 earned runs in 2.0 innings with 2 hits allowed, 4 walks, and 3 strikeouts. That summer, he played for the Chatham Anglers in the Cape Cod Collegiate Baseball League and hit .261/.469/.522 in 8 games with 2 home runs, 0 stolen bases, and 9 walks to 12 strikeouts.
When the summer ended and fall began, McLean decided to hang up his football pads permanently. Rather than play football and possibly reaggravate his back, he decided to focus on baseball. As a draft-eligible sophomore due to his age, focusing on baseball would give him the best opportunity to go pro. His new focus on baseball paid off in 2022, as he excelled as a hitter and also got to show off his ability to pitch. Splitting time between second and third base, spending most of it third, McLean hit .285/.397/.595 with 16 doubles, 1 triple, 19 home runs, 2 stolen bases in 4 attempts, and drew 37 walks to 107 strikeouts. On the mound, he appeared in 23 games and posted a 4.97 ERA in 25.1 innings with 20 hits allowed, 13 walks, and 39 strikeouts. The Baltimore Orioles liked what they saw and selected him with their third-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, the 81st overall pick, designating him a pitcher. The two sides were unable to come to an agreement after Baltimore seeing some post-draft physical MRI results they were concerned about and McLean ended up being the highest selected played in the 2022 MLB Draft to go unsigned, and one of two third round selections to not sign with a team, along with New York Mets third round pick Brandon Sproat.
After an unexpectedly free summer, McLean returned to Oklahoma State University for his junior year, his primary defensive position now moved from the infield to the outfield. He appeared in 43 games, missing time in April after crashing into the outfield wall attempting to make a play and injuring his MCL, and hit .250/.379/.532 with 6 doubles, 1 triple, 9 home runs, 4 stolen bases in 6 attempts, and 27 walks to 57 strikeouts. On the mound, he appeared in 14 games, making 3 starts late in the season, and posted a 3.30 ERA in 30.0 innings, with 30 hits allowed, 17 walks, and 34 strikeouts. The Mets selected him in the 2023 MLB Draft with their third round selection, the 91st pick overall, and the two sides agreed to a $747,600 signing bonus, exactly the MLB-assigned slot value. As opposed to the Orioles, who designated McLean a pitcher when they drafted him, the Mets designated him a two-way player and used him as such. He split the rest of the summer with the FCL Mets and the St. Lucie Mets, appearing in 8 total games as a hitter and two as a pitcher. At the plate, he hit a cumulative .125/.375/.313 with 1 home run, 1 stolen base, and 7 walks to 11 strikeouts. On the mound, he threw 1.1 innings total, allowing one earned run on 1 hit and 2 walks, with 2 strikeouts.
That winter, Amazin’ Avenue ranked McLean the Mets’ 25 prospect on the 2024 Amazin’ Avenue Top 25 Prospects list. Assigned to the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones, the organization continued using him as a two-way pitcher, and McLean quickly began racking up strikeouts. He remained in Coney Island until the end of May and posted a 2.57 ERA in 28.0 innings over 7 starts with 20 hits allowed, 10 walks, and 36 strikeouts while hitting .224/.297/.552 in 63 at-bats, drawing 6 walks and striking out 38 times. Highlighting why the Mets were developing the right-hander as a two-way hitter, an astounding 12 of McLean’s 15 hits went for extra bases, resulting in a Barry Bonds-ian .328 ISO.
At the end of May, McLean was promoted to Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies and was sluggish to get out of the gate early on. After roughly a month of play, the decision was made to end the two-way player experiment and for McLean to focus only on pitching. The right-hander settled down after a rough month to begin his Double-A career and ended up having a solid season on the mound. In 81.2 innings over 18 starts, he posted a 4.19 ERA, allowing 76 hits, walking 32, and striking out 80.
Based on his upside as a pitcher, made clearer thanks to impressive pitch metric data and in-person looks from scouts and evaluators, McLean gained a lot of helium that off-season and was ranked 5 on the Amazin’ Avenue Top 25 Mets Prospects List for the 2025 season. The right-hander began his season with the Rumble Ponies but was promoted after a month that saw him post a 1.37 ERA in 26.1 innings over 5 starts with 20 hits allowed, 12 walks, and 30 strikeouts. He was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse in mid-May and barely missed a beat against the tougher competition in a more hitting-friendly league. The right-hander appeared in 16 games for the Syracuse Mets, starting 13 of them, and posted a 2.78 ERA in 87.1 innings, giving up 58 hits, walking 38, and striking out 97. Altogether, between Binghamton and Syracuse combined, McLean posted a 2.45 ERA in 113.2 innings, allowing 78 hits, walking 50, and striking out 127.
In mid-August, with the Mets’ playoff chances beginning to fade as a compromised starting rotation and beleaguered bullpen became highly problematic, the decision was made to call McLean up to the Mets, leapfrogging fellow top prospects Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong. His name had been bandied about for a few weeks as a potential bullpen aid, but with the organization fortifying the bullpen at the trade deadline, the organization elected to call the 23-year-old up to strengthen the starting rotation instead. Frankie Montas was shifted to the bullpen and McLean took his place, giving him the opportunity to show what he could do over a handful of starts, not just one singular spot start.
McLean’s audition went better than anybody could have predicted. In his first start on August 16th, he threw 5.1 shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners, allowing 2 hits, walking 4, and striking out 8. In his next start on August 22nd, against the Atlanta Braves, he allowed two runs over 7.0 innings, giving up 4 hits, walking none, and striking out 7. In his next start, against the Philadelphia Phillies on August 27th, McLean threw 8 shutout innings, allowing four hits, walking none, and striking out 6. The right-hander was just as good as the calendar flipped to September and ended up making 5 starts, posting a 2.93 ERA in 27.2 innings with 24 hits allowed, 12 walks, and 36 strikeouts. All in all, McLean stayed just under the rookie limits, throwing 48.0 innings at the big league level, and posted a 2.06 ERA in his 8 starts, allowing 34 hits, walking 16, and striking out 57.
The 6’2”, 215-pound McLean has a sturdy, durable pitching frame. He throws from a low-three-quarters arm slot, his release point magnified even further with his extension off the mound from his drop-and-drive delivery. The ball explodes out of his hand, heightened by its lower approach angle. McLean also stands on the far third base side of the rubber, making the ball more difficult to pick up mid-flight because, thanks to his arm slot, it is much further to the side than most other pitchers.
The right-hander throws three fastballs, a four-seamer, a sinker, and a cutter, a sweeping slider, a curveball, and a changeup.
While in Triple-A, he threw his sweeping slider 28% of the time, his sinker 23% of the time, his four-seam fastball 21% of the time, his cutter 11% of the time, his curveball 9% of the time, and his change-up 8% of the time. In his MLB cup-of-coffee, he threw his sinker 28% of the time, his sweeping slider 26% of the time, his curveball 16% of the time, his four-seam fastball 13% of the time, and his change-up and cutter both 9% of the time. Against major leaguers, the ratios of those pitches more or less stayed the same against left-handers and right-handers, throwing fewer sinkers and sliders against lefties and more changeups, cutters, and curves.
McLean’s four-seam fastball sits in the mid-90s, ranging 92-98 MPH, averaging 95 MPH. Thanks to his arm slot, the pitch has a fairly flat approach angle, but with an average spin rate that measured 2,270 RPM in Syracuse and 2,310 in Queens, the pitch does not have much life to it. While the right-hander has had no real issues getting swings-and-misses with the pitch, posting a 22.4% Whiff% with it in Triple-A and a 37.1% Whiff% in the majors, the pitch is better suited as a set-up pitch rather than a go-to strikeout pitch.
McLean’s sinker is in a similar boat. Sitting in the same velocity band, averaging 94.5 MPH, the pitch also has below-average spin rates for a sinker and is not a big strikeout pitch for the right-hander. Triple-A batters hit .165/.250/.253 against it and MLB hitters hit .193/.281/.316 against it, but they swung-and-missed at a 22.0% and 18.7% rate, respectively. The pitch is effective at getting outs, inducing a great deal of groundballs, but not necessarily swings-and-misses.
When the right-hander needs strikeouts, he turns to his breaking balls: the right-hander throws a plus sweeper and a plus curveball, both of which have elite pitch characteristics.
McLean’s sweeping slider averaged 85 MPH last season, sitting anywhere between 81 to 89 MPH. The pitch features 2,435-3,230 RPM of spin, giving it 37.8 inches of vertical movement and 16.8 inches of horizontal movement. The right-hander commands the pitch well despite the amount of movement it has and is one of the most adroit pitchers in baseball today in regards to pounding the strike zone with a sweeping slider. Coupled with McLean’s arm slot and the side angle that the pitch is coming in from in relation to the plate, the pitch is a true plus breaker that is one of the best in Major League Baseball today. Ironically, in his 48 innings at the major league level, big league batters had no problem with the pitch, hitting it to the tune of a .361/.425/.528 batting average against with a 20.3% Whiff%; in a larger sample of his work in Syracuse, batters hit .185/.250/.326 with a 30.2% Whiff%.
Sitting in the high-70s and featuring spin rates ranging from 2,915 to 3,510 RPM, McLean’s curveball featured an average of 57.6 inches of vertical drop and 18.7 inches of horizontal movement, making it a plus pitch as well. In Triple-A, batters hit a paltry .121/.194/.212 against it with a 48.4% Whiff% and in the majors, batters hit .074/.107/.074 against it with an even 50% Whiff%. Unlike his sweeping slider, McLean’s command of the pitch is fleeting. The pitch was still extremely effective, as hitters chased it out of the zone with regularity, but the right-hander only managed a 17.9% Zone% with it.
To mitigate whatever advantages left-handers might have, McLean also throws a cutter and change-up. His cutter sits in the high-80s-to-low-90s and features slight glove-side hop. It is McLean’s weakest pitch overall, hit the hardest and for the highest batting average against, but it also sets up his sweeper and/or change-up.
His changeup was only recently developed, a “kick” changeup en vogue among Mets pitching developmental staff of late. Prior to the 2025 season, McLean had always been experimenting with a changeup, using different grips and figuring out what worked best for him, but the changeups he threw generally were little more than change of pace offerings, as opposed to consistent swing-and-miss pitches. His new kick grip has improved his command the mid-to-high-80s offering and has also given it more bite the pitch has, increasing its vertical drop and giving the pitch an elite 38.8 inches of tumble to go along with its above-average 13.4 inches of arm-side movement.
Far from an issue, McLean’s control and command wavered earlier in his career. At this point, while his walk rate is still a bit inflated and his command of certain pitches in his arsenal are better than others, it is only a conceptual weakness.
2026 Mets Top 25 Prospect List
2) Carson Benge
3) Jonah Tong
4) Jett Williams*
5) Brandon Sproat*
6) A.J. Ewing
7) Jacob Reimer
8) Ryan Clifford
9) Will Watson
10) Jack Wenninger
11) Mitch Voit
12) Jonathan Santucci
13) Elian Peña
14) Zach Thornton
15) Nick Morabito
16) R.J. Gordon
17) Chris Suero
18) Dylan Ross
19) Ryan Lambert
20) Antonio Jimenez
21) Edward Lantigua
22) Eli Serrano III
23) Randy Guzman
24) Daiverson Gutierrez
25) Boston Baro
