Every time Christian Scott is on the mountain for Mets It’s a preview of what the franchise’s future rotation could look like.
However, the young pitcher’s career will inevitably hit bumps as he learns to pitch in the major leagues, as happened in the Friday night in Miami. Scott faced the last-place Marlins in the first of a three-game set and didn’t have his best.
The Florida native lasted just four innings, gave up four runs and struck out just three batters. All the worst moments of my career.
Of course, Scott’s major league career only has three starts, but despite that, there was a lot to learn about the 24-year-old heading into Friday’s game.
“I thought he got away from the fastball in the second inning, especially against left-handed hitters,” the manager said. Carlos Mendoza said of Scott’s start after the game. “One of those where he got away from the fastball… the changeup didn’t work against lefties and they made him pay.”
That second inning mentioned was where the Marlins got to Scott. Miami strung together hits and went up by one run on a sac fly. But then the catcher Nick Fortes – entering the game with a .127 average – threw a hanging slider off the left-center field wall.
“The fastball didn’t have the ‘bounce’ it normally has,” Mendoza added. “The pitch sequence for me…he was happy with the slider against lefties.”
When Scott was told that his manager thought he was “happy with the slider,” he chalked it up to execution.
“I don’t think I did a good job executing in the zone. Definitely had some hitable pitches in the second, had a bad home run pitch, hung a slider,” Scott explained. “We need to do a better job executing in the zone, especially in deeper counts. The more pitches they see, the more they’re going to have to do a better job of getting those sliders down and away. I have to make quality proposals there.
He agreed with Mendoza that he didn’t have a “good feel” for his fastball on Friday. He said it was partial location and a lack of life in the fastball that was off – he averaged 90 mph on his fastball.
He also didn’t mix up his scraper much on Friday. Of his 84 pitches, he only threw six of them, according to Baseball Savant. This is something Scott regrets not playing more of.
“Probably should have [thrown the sweeper more]. I thought the gyroscope was working really well,” Scott explained. “I thought about the fastball, I didn’t have a good feel for it, so I tried to get them out of it. … I just need to learn from this and keep one foot in front of the other.”
While it wasn’t the start he or the Mets had hoped for, he fought through his four innings, especially after getting into a bases-loaded jam with zero outs.
Scott was eliminated Jazz Chisolm Jr., he picked up Bryan De La Cruz fly out and Josh Bell to finish the quarter without giving up, and kept the Mets down just 4-0.
“Just compete on every pitch. The whole game, just going out there even when I wasn’t at my best, just being able to go out there and try to come out any way I could to try and keep the team there,” Scott said.
“He won’t give up. He will continue to compete and do his best,” said Mendoza about the fourth entry. “When he’s not feeling well and it’s a battle for him, getting out of that difficult situation says a lot about who he is. He didn’t have it, he continued to compete.”
In three starts, Scott has a 4.32 ERA but has struck out 17 batters in 16.2 innings pitched. He’s still looking for his first MLB win, which he’ll have to wait until next week to try to get, but even when he’s not at his best, the Mets know they can count on their young pitcher to compete and keep them in the game. game.
