The New York Mets’ decision to start selling at the trade deadline will lead to some interesting ramifications for their young pitching prospects. Max Scherzer was dealt to the Texas Rangers over the weekend and Justin Verlander may follow him out the door before tomorrow’s 6:00 p.m. deadline, creating some holes in the rotation that the Mets will need to fill. While free agents may occupy some of those roles in the short term, the Mets are finally starting to see progress from their next wave of young starting pitchers. One who has shown significant promise of late is righty Christian Scott, who is the focus of this week’s edition of Minor League Mondays.
Scott, the Mets’ fifth-round pick in 2021 out of Florida, hasn’t received the hype that fellow prospects Mike Vasil, Calvin Ziegler and Dominic Hamel have over the past few years. The Gators never really used Scott in the rotation due to an abundance of starters but the Mets gave him a chance to pitch in the rotation thanks to their belief in his top two pitches, a 92-95 mile per hour fastball with some sink on it along with a good slider. Scott also has a changeup in his arsenal that is rarely used but will need to either refine it or develop another pitch to have a chance to become a big-league starter.
The results have been good for Scott so far this season as he is 4-4 with a 2.75 ERA across High-A Brooklyn and AA Binghamton. Scott has held his own against the advanced competition of the Eastern League, striking out 53 batters in 46.1 innings pitched, and opponents are batting just .201 against him in AA. One thing that gives Scott a chance to make it as a big league starter is the fact that he pounds the strike zone, walking only 11 batters in 72 innings pitched this season.
Scott is rated as the Mets’ 28th-best prospect according to MLB.com and his potential is certainly intriguing for a team that will have openings across their pitching staff over the next few years. If the Mets’ new pitching lab can teach Scott a secondary breaking pitch that is effective he could join the ranks of Vasil, Blade Tidwell and Hamel as potential big league starters. The fastball-slider combo that Scott has is effective enough to make him a reliever at the big league level as well, something that could be beneficial since the Mets have had a ton of trouble developing their own relievers in the past decade.
For now, the plan appears to be to let Scott finish the season in AA before getting an invitation to spring training in 2024. Scott’s path to the majors will be impacted by whatever moves the Mets make in the offseason but he will likely need to spend some time at AAA Syracuse to continue his development. The fact that Scott has so much success in the minors is a positive, however, and is an indication that he could have a chance to be successful as a major leaguer.
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