Young New York Mets right-hander Nolan McLean dominated in his time last season, earning a spot on The Athletic's Under-25 team, and stars in World Baseball Classic.
The New York Mets are in a much better position regarding their starting rotation than they were by the end of last season. There was a huge collapse in the second half of 2025, but after a strong offseason and the emergence of a young star, New York’s rotation looks plenty capable of leading the club back to the postseason.
While it was tough to watch the rotation’s collapse last season, the silver lining was the debut of right-hander Nolan McLean. The 24-year-old looked like an MLB pitcher from the jump, throwing 5 ⅓ innings while allowing zero runs, two hits, and striking out eight batters to get the win in his debut.
From there, McLean continued his dominance. Through his first seven starts, he held a ridiculous ERA of 1.27. His final start of the season saw him give up five runs, bringing his final ERA just above 2.00, but McLean left little doubt about whether or not he was an MLB pitcher by season's end.
There was even belief that McLean would head into 2026 as the Mets’ ace, but he’ll have to settle for No. 2 after the club traded for Cy Young candidate Freddy Peralta. With McLean and Peralta leading the way for New York, the Mets have one of the deadlier front twos in baseball.
It’s important to remember just how young McLean is despite his success at the big league level. At 24 years old, he’s pitched just eight MLB games but has already established himself as one of the premier pitching prospects in the game. Unsurprisingly, he found himself a spot in the starting rotation of The Athletic’s 'under-25 team'.
Though he hasn't been in the spotlight long, McLean has already become a top name in the baseball world – so much so that he was even named to Team USA’s roster for the World Baseball Classic.
He got the nod against Italy, where he struck out four in three innings but wasn't great as he allowed two home runs. Though he didn’t excel in his first game under the spotlight of the entire world, the 24-year-old was given the start in the WBC championship game on Monday night for Team USA.
McLean showed improvement from his first start, going 4 ⅔ innings where he allowed four hits and two runs. Unfortunately for the No. 6 prospect in baseball, Team USA’s bats never quite showed up, ultimately losing the game 3-2 to Venezuela. Still, the WBC was a huge achievement for McLean as he heads into his first full season in the majors
New York’s young righty still has rookie status for the 2026 season, despite already proving his worth in the MLB and earning a pivotal spot on the national team. He may not even be 25 years old just yet, but McLean is already establishing himself as one of the best in the game.