Back in the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s it was a fairly routine bit of news to hear about a Mets pitching prospect who was tearing things up on his ascent to the majors and whose future was expected to be one of All Star caliber and Cy Young contention.
Since then it’s been a bit thinner for the pitching development of future star hurlers. We’ve more recently had guys like David Peterson, Tylor Megill and other AAAA pitchers with career ERAs over 4.50. While that’s surely not awful, it’s not the star caliber Mets fans had grown accustomed to seeing on the hill.
Some pitchers develop very quickly like Doc Gooden while others take a bit longer like Jacob deGrom. On that path right now is a post college late starter who’s finally getting media and fan attention by the name of Christian Scott. Beginning as a 22 year old in 2021 he started off at an acceptable level but since then he’s turned it up several notches.
In 2023 he pitched parts of the year at three different levels, making 19 starts and going 5-4. That part is unexciting. Look a bit deeper and what he’s done is stunning. Combined for the year he delivered a 2.57 ERA, struck out 107 in under 88 innings. He only walked 12 during that time which is nearly a 10:1 strikeout to walk ratio. He gave up just 63 hits and finished this aggregated season with a WHIP of 0.856. Wowser!
Going into 2024 no one paid a huge amount of attention to him compared to other prospects in the system, some closer to the majors and some further away.
Scott just went on his merry way, pitching effectively in Florida and then began the year in Syracuse. Thus far he’s pitched 9 innings over two starts, striking out 19 and giving up a single walk. That is not a misprint. He’s given up 7 hits but they have not caused much damage as his WHIP is still a stunning 0.889.
At the ripe old age now of nearly 25 (birthday on June 15) he may have quickly pitched himself onto the starting rotation possibles list given the injuries to Kodai Senga, David Peterson and Tylor Megill. No one is fully sure how resilient Jose Butto will be, and Joey Lucchesi is still apparently in the team’s doghouse.
Consequently Scott may hurl himself into 2nd place behind Butto despite having just reached AAA this year. Given his age and with a full college preparatory tenure behind him he’s had plenty of miles on his arm to hone his craft.
Given that the 2024 season was described as “transition” and one for testing in-house talents in anticipation to the ample level of quality talent in the 2024/2025 free agent marketplace it would seem that some known pitchers who have never excelled might be better suited to a future out of the bullpen or as minor trade bait rather than hoping as they approach age 30 they have finally figured out how to dominate.
For now it’s going to be fun reading every 5th day how Scott is doing for Syracuse. Not only will he help that team win, but he’s also gearing up for his next step up to pitching at Citifield. The way things have started off in 2024 it would seem the fans and media could use some solid signs of a bright future to withstand a mediocre present.
Find videos of Scott's strikeout pitches. VERY impressive. Saberhagen/(Greg) Maddux comparisons may not be too extreme.
ReplyDeleteJoey was strong over his 6 innings last night. Meanwhile, a clearly lesser pitcher in Chris Flexen gets bombed - pitching in the majors - Joey must feel trapped in this organization. Think of the healthy depth chart:
Severino (great last night), Manaea, Quintana, Houser, Senga, Megill, Peterson, Butto, Scott, maybe Hamel, possibly Vasil...and Joey. Suarez gaining speed behind them. Heck, Tyler Jay gets to the Mets before Joey,
Joey is in limbo has to be dying to be traded at his age. 3 Joey starts, 2-0, 2.40. For the umpteenth time, in the losing 2023 season, in 47 Mets innings, he was 4-0, 2.89.
Christian take VERY good care of that arm!
ReplyDeleteSomething that impresses me with Scott is that he was a relief pitcher in college. Threw less than 130 innings total in college.
ReplyDeleteTom - you mentioned Joey L. In his 2018, 2019 he was a capable fifth starter for San Diago. In 2022, he went down with TJS. I believe he more than bounced back well last year and should have been a very strong candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation (that is where I would have slotted him). I know that he struggled in ST but appears to be throwing well now. If I was a GM in search of a back end starter .....
Steve, Joey may be relegated to AAA for the foreseeable future, as insurance, but I have little doubt that right now, 5-10 MLB teams would be happy right now to add him to their current starting rotation.
ReplyDeleteA mediocre present.? I don't think so. Right now we look like a decent team that's just starting to reach it's potential
ReplyDeleteJoey is only topping out at 90mph velocity.
ReplyDeleteSam, isn’t Quintana around that Joey velocity?
ReplyDeleteDidn’t the Twins just pay cash for Michael Tonkin? They DFA’d him this morning. How GM’s burn money…
ReplyDeleteScott may have been blessed to be a reliever in college where their arms aren’t broken by the coaches there. The Mets have drafted quite a few college relievers lately, maybe for that reason. Smart team!!!
We can't get passed that velocity thing but hey their are many who win without it and probably last longer. Isn't the first thing we think about with Scott or any prospect is when will he need TJS?
ReplyDeleteI hope Joey finds success here, but I can't overlook the fact that he reported to ST "not ready", and as a result delayed his playing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if he prepared better before reporting, he would've been able to show that he was fully ready for OD.
He's got to accept at least partial responsibility for his current status.