NEW YORK — The legend of Nolan McLean had grown hastily in a little more than nine months.
The 24-year-old right-hander was often largely unhittable. He was certainly appointment viewing for Mets fans each time he took the ball.
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The fact remains that he is a rookie, and some of the hard lessons had been clouded by his uncanny ability to spin the baseball.
Now, his first major test is laid out in front of him. McLean has turned in his worst starts of his career in back-to-back outings.
The latest was a jolt to the system for McLean as he allowed a career-high seven earned runs over 3⅓ innings — the shortest start of his young career — on five hits, two walks and two hit batters in the Mets’ 7-2 loss to the Reds on Monday afternoon at Citi Field.
“It’s a combination of things,” McLean said. “Getting behind in counts, not landing my off-speed pitches like I should. I’ve been hitting guys with two strikes too, which isn’t a great recipe for success.”
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McLean’s first major struggles of his career have come at unfavorable time for the Mets, which are mired by injuries – add Tyrone Taylor to that growing list during Monday’s game – and with the offense scoring six runs in the last five games.
The Mets’ good graces from their last homestand, including series wins over the Tigers and Yankees, have been wiped away as the Mets have gone 2-6 since.
Only 19 starts into his major league career, it was understandable why many believed McLean to be the savior within the Mets’ starting rotation. The highlights had been forceful, with McLean entering Monday’s outing with 126 strikeouts in 106 innings. Twice this season, McLean had began a start by retiring 15 straight batters.
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When McLean faced the two-time defending champion Dodgers in his fourth start of the season, he struck out eight while allowing only one earned run on two hits and two walks in a head-to-head battle with Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Now, the growing pains have set in.
After opening with a 2.92 ERA through his first nine starts in 2026, McLean has given up 13 earned runs on 13 hits, four walks and four hit batters in his last two starts across nine innings. The rookie’s ERA has ballooned to 4.40.
“I want to go out there and win. That’s my job,” McLean said. “My team’s counting on me every five days to go out there and compete. It’s just been two uncompetitive starts in a row, so I’ve got to play better.”
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McLean said he felt the struggles in his most recent two outings were for different reasons. The Nationals jumped on early pitches, put the ball in play and cashed in for eight hits in the opening four innings. McLean admitted he didn’t have great control on Monday after the first inning when he struck out the side.
Thirty-two of McLean’s pitches were in the strike zone, while 46 were out of it.
In the second inning, he hit a batter and walked another in the second inning as one of two runs crossed on a wild pitch. After throwing a non-competitive pitch to begin an at-bat with JJ Bleday, McLean went back into the zone with a sinker and paid on a solo home run in the third.
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Then, a walk and three straight hits, including a two-run single and a two-run home run to Tyler Stephenson ultimately led to McLean’s exit after he plunked the leadoff hitter with one out in the fourth.
“He’s having a hard time landing the secondary pitches for strikes,” Carlos Mendoza said. “There’s a ton of movement, especially side-to-side, not so much with depth, with the sweeper, with the breaking ball. He’s getting into bad counts. They did a good job attacking the fastball, especially the two-seam when they had to.”
McLean admitted that he might have worked too hard in between starts to try and round out his form following his rough outing in Washington, D.C.
“I felt like my legs left me pretty early today,” McLean said, “so it’s always that balance of working on stuff and not doing too much at the same time, so you can be efficient in your next start and I just wasn’t today.”
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The Mets need McLean to revert to his past form now more than ever, with Clay Holmes down for an extended time with a fractured fibula, Kodai Senga still working back from lumbar spine inflammation and uncertainty in two spots in the rotation, between David Peterson and Jonah Tong in bulk relief roles.
The club is nearly at a point where their arms will get a much needed break, with their first off day coming on Thursday after a stretch of 16 straight games.
And the Mets remain confident that McLean will be able to sort out his struggles for the next time he takes the ball. But working through his first major challenge will be his biggest chore in his early major league career.
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“He’s got too good of stuff for this to keep going,” Mendoza said. “I’m pretty sure we’ll go back and do some homework here and try to help him. It just sucks that happens on back-to-back outings especially in the middle of this stretch, but he’ll get back on track.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Mets’ Nolan McLean in rare bind following second straight rough start
