As the New York Mets battle to save their season and fight off several wild-card challengers, it’s also apparent that they’re entering a new era on the mound. While established stars like outfielder Juan Soto, shortstop Francisco Lindor and first baseman Pete Alonso will doubtless carry the offense, there’s some serious displacement going on in the pitching ranks.
We’re talking about the new Big Three, of course. Big Threes come in all shapes and sizes in pro sports, but it’s extremely rare to see three promising starters surface at once during a pennant race. But that’s exactly what hurlers Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong have done.
Their backgrounds are very different. Tong is the youngest at 22, but he was drafted first. The Canadian righty came to the Mets by way of the Georgia Premier Academy in 2022, and he spent the least amount of time in Triple A. Tong is still struggling to find his footing, with his next chance coming Thursday against the San Diego Padres in the series finale of this week’s three game set.
McLean has been the most impressive. He may have been the last of the three to be drafted, but the Oklahoma State product has displayed a poise well beyond his years, not to mention stellar stuff that plays across the board. McLean is setting records and posting numbers Mets fans haven't seen since the days of Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver, and some of those numbers have actually been better than the ones that helped define "Tom Terrific."
Sproat is a native Floridian who came out of the University of Florida, and he’s been portrayed as the most analytical of the three, constantly making adjustments between starts after some struggles at Triple A. His last round of adjustments worked flawlessly, as Sproat went from giving up three runs in a 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds to shutting out the Texas Rangers through six innings, although he didn’t get the win against the Rangres.
The biggest win for the Mets here, though, could be cost control. That may not sound all that sexy or exciting, but it gives the club flexibility, which is especially important given the Mets’ monster payroll--not that owner Steve Cohen seems to care all that much about money.
A bargain’s a bargain, though, and this one’s a big one. According to Will Sammon of the Athletic, the three rookie starters are making a total of $396,344 at the big-league level this year, while the Mets payroll checks in at $340 million. McLean’s impressive numbers aside, that one might end up being the most important number of all over the long haul.