The 2025 New York Mets failed to make the postseason and underachieved on a number of levels. But injuries and other deficiencies allowed the franchise to get a glimpse of what their pitching staff could look like over the next few years.
Starting pitcher Christian Scott was unable to pitch alongside Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong as he recovered from a combined Tommy John surgery and internal brace procedure that kept him out for the entire season. Despite the major setback, Scott is expecting to participate in spring training.
“We’re all kind of pulling for each other,” Scott told Will Sammon of The Athletic. “There’s no animosity toward each other. Especially coming up, everybody’s playing the same position, it’s easy to go, why not me? But while we’re all very intense competitors, we are also super close off the field to the point where we can bounce ideas off each other and genuinely want each other to get better.”
Scott made his MLB debut in 2024. He started nine games and posted a 4.56 ERA across 47.1 innings. The Florida native does not know how his velocity will adapt after his recovery, but has already tweaked the grip on his changeup in hopes of complementing other pitches, such as his splitter.
“The in-zone percentage just wasn’t good enough with the split-finger before I got hurt,” Scott said. “Just being able to have a pitch that’s in the zone a little bit more and also moves a little bit better, in theory, is going to help me get more outs against left-handed hitters.
“But it’s also just pounding the middle of the zone with the heater, not getting behind in counts. And I know what makes me good is staying ahead of hitters and being ahead, so just trying to do that consistently.”
The Mets will certainly face several questions once the offseason officially starts. It will be interesting to see if David Stearns and the front office view Scott as a potential answer to some of their rotation concerns.
