Rivals became teammates during the WBC, and Bryce Harper came away impressed with Nolan McLean of the New York Mets.
Nolan McLean has acquired a lot of admirers and fans in his brief time as a starter for the New York Mets. Most are of the expected variety, but one of the most unusual ones is Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper, who became a teammate of McLean’s during the WBC.
Harper experienced hitting against McLean late last season when McLean was brought up for the Mets’ stretch run. Two of McLean’s starts were against the Phillies, and he struck out 11 while allowing just one run in a total of 13-1/3 innings, according to Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com. Three of those strikeouts were against Harper, who wasn’t shy in his praise of McLean after facing him.
“I don't give pitchers much credit, obviously, as a hitter, but I think he was the best arm I saw last year,” Harper said in an interview with SNY on March 10.
The context behind that comment is important, given that Harper faces Pittsburgh Pirates starter Paul Skenes on a regular basis, and he also had at bats against Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers last year.
On a somewhat different note, Harper did McLean a solid during the WBC. His two-run home run that tied the final game with Venezuela at 2-2 took McLean off the hook for what otherwise probably would have been a painful loss given that Team USA went into Harper’s eighth-inning at-bat down 2-0.
“Whenever you get down 2-0 it's tough, but I thought Mac threw the ball great,” Harper said. “He's a special talent. He's going to be a special talent for a long time.”
That talent still needs some polish, as was evidenced by McLean’s experience in the WBC. His success when hitters saw him for the first time was jaw-dropping, as he struck out the side in his first start against Italy and continued to have at-bats where he was basically unhittable.
But McLean struggled at times when he was hit. He was clearly set back on his heels when Team Italy got him for a pair of home runs in a single inning of his first start, and he appeared rattled when Venezuela’s Wilyer Abreu took him deep in the fifth inning of the final game.
Not being stretched out was part of the problem, and in some ways the Mets were lucky to have survived McLean’s WBC experience. He threw far too many high-leverage pitches without the necessary early season foundation to execute them properly, and he’ll need to be better managed going forward if he’s going to realize the potential that Harper and other hitters can clearly see.