New York Mets starter Nolan McLean had a rough outing against Italy in his first start, but he's ready for another go.
Nolan McLean nearly got Team USA knocked out of the WBC in his initial start for the team, but the New York Mets starter has no intention of duplicating that shaky outing this time around.
McLean is still on schedule to make his second start against the winner of tonight’s semifinal game between Venezuela and Italy, and he certainly wasn’t lacking confidence in the comments he made to Mark DeRosa when the manager checked in to gauge McLean’s interest in pitching in this kind of game.
“I’m built for this,” McLean said, echoing the comments of Fernando Tatis Jr. when he joined Team Dominican Republic in a piece written by Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for something like this.”
DeRosa confirmed that McLean will be starting tomorrow night after Team USA eliminated the Dominican Republic, 2-1, despite the fact that McLean was tagged for a pair of home runs in three innings when the US lost to Italy last time around.
That start led to speculation that newly-added starter Joe Ryan would be piggybacked with McLean in a shared starting role, but the fact that McLean has had plenty of rest and the games aren’t being played on back-to-back days undoubtedly played into DeRosa’s decision.
This will basically be an all-hands-on-deck-game, though, despite the fact that Team USA’s formidable bullpen trio of David Bednar, Garrett Whitlock and Mason Miller have worked three times in the last five days.
“If it was up to the guys in the room…” DeRosa said tentatively about the willingness of his key relievers to give it one last go if necessary tomorrow night. “Every day presents new challenges.”
The challenges for McLean are quite clear going into this one. He seemed rattled by the homers he gave up against Italy, to the point where he went away from his fastball almost completely. That left him at the mercy of a breaking-ball arsenal that can make McLean look like a pitching magician when he’s right, but something else entirely when he can’t locate, which was the case against Italy.
One thing will be very different in this outing, though—McLean will be on a much shorter leash. This is a winner-take-all championship game, not a contest in pool play where Team USA is still trying to figure things out.
DeRosa and pitching coach Andy Petite will be watching McLean closely to see if his command and control are present and accounted for, and if they aren’t the Mets' would-be phenom will have a short night indeed.