Nolan McLean to Embark on Biggest Game of His Young Career

“I’ve been waiting my whole life for something like this.”

You would expect those words from Nolan McLean in October, with the Mets in a playoff series and the stud rookie starter on the mound. But the moment that the 24-year-old has been waiting for has arrived on St. Patrick’s Day, in a Team USA uniform rather than a Mets orange and blue, as he gets the start tonight for his home country in the title game of the World Baseball Classic. And you could hardly blame him for the sentiment.

“Putting U.S. on your chest and going out there and competing obviously means the world,” said the youngster.

The righty will look to bounce back from his first WBC start. In a pool play loss to Team Italy, McLean struck out the side in the first inning before giving up two homers in the second. He finished the day with three earned runs on two hits, two walks and four strikeouts over three innings. He threw 55 pitches, 34 of them for strikes.

“Obviously, I got clipped there a couple times with the homer, but overall, [I] felt really good,” said McLean after the loss.

Now McLean faces an even tougher test in Team Venezuela, which beat Italy 4-2 yesterday to advance to the final. Their starting lineup features nine major leaguers, including MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., plus Maikel Garcia, Luis Arraez, Gleyber Torres, Ezequiel Tovar, Wilyer Abreu, Salvador Perez, and Jackson Chourio. Arizona Diamondbacks veteran lefty Eduardo Rodriguez is the opposing pitcher.

While the game is in Miami, McLean will also be dealing with a raucous “away” crowd. Venezuelan fans showed up in droves for the semifinal. And while geopolitics will be the last thing on McLean’s mind, the game comes at a fraught time for these two countries’ relations, which will likely make the stadium environment even more intense.

But McLean should also have some familiar faces in the crowd, in addition to tens of thousands of USA supporters. He said he expects a few of his Mets teammates to make the trip from Port St. Lucie to root him on.

McLean will likely be on a pitch count of around 65-70 pitches. In the USA’s 2-1 semifinal win over the Dominican Republic, starter Paul Skenes tossed 71 pitches over 4 1/3 innings.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, a native of Venezuela, will be watching each of those pitches through his fingers, if he can stand to watch at all—especially after the Edwin Diaz WBC injury debacle of 2023.

“I have mixed feelings,” Mendoza said about McLean pitching tonight. “I’m not gonna lie.”

“That’s on the back of the mind of people and organizations,” Mendoza added about concerns that McLean is ramping up too quickly this spring. “I’m pretty sure the Pirates felt the same way with Skenes pitching. … You hold your breath.”

Mets fans will certainly be holding their breath on every McLean pitch, pumping their fist on every one of his strikeouts, and dreaming of a night like this in October. McLean toes the rubber at 8 p.m. this evening.

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