Nolan McLean Ready for Major League Debut

Nolan McLean is officially a big leaguer. He’ll wear No. 26 when he takes the field for his major league debut with the Mets on Saturday, and attempt to live up to massive expectations to fix a struggling rotation.

Upon his arrival at Citi Field on Friday, McLean caught up with the media, along with Mets manager Carlos Mendoza about finding out he was going to the big leagues and more. The righty began by talking about how it was a surprise when he found out and how calling his mom to tell her was one of the emotional aspects of the day he found out.

“It was a surprise,” McLean stated. “I was trying to do my best to stay in the moment and be with Syracuse as much as I could. It caught me off guard when they did tell me.”

McLean recalled having a big grin on his face and Brandon Sproat saying his face got red, but he didn’t get too emotional in that moment. He did, however, get emotional when he made his first call to his mom and fiancé.

“I called my mom, she was crying, I got really emotional then. It was an exciting moment.”

McLean is going into his Saturday debut confident in his abilities. He plans to rely on his pitch repertoire and let it play when he faces major league batters Saturday. McLean said his ability to throw strikes with most of his pitches has been his strong suit and going into Saturday, he’s going to stay confident in his pitches, just as Mendoza told the media he told him.

“Proud of him,” said Mendoza. “He worked really hard, credit to him, people in player development, he’s a big league pitcher. Have fun!”

“Part of the game is going out and competing with what you’ve got,” McLean said. “My stuff’s not going to change from Syracuse to here. I’m just going to go out there tomorrow and do my best.”

McLean also spoke on the level of talent the Mets have coming up in the farm system, including his teammates, Sproat and Jonah Tong, and their elite-level fastballs.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of talent,” McLean answered. “Jonah and Brandon are just a couple guys; you can name a whole bunch. Those guys are special as well. I’ve never seen a fastball like those two, honestly. I play catch with Brandon every day. It’s exciting for the organization.”

McLean said his locker was across from Tong’s, so they spent a great deal of time together throughout the spring and got “pretty tight.”

McLean’s locker now sits in Citi Field, and when he arrives at the stadium Saturday, he will put that jersey on for the first time and make a well-earned MLB debut.

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