When fans and analysts talk about the New York Mets’ farm system, the first thing they bring up is all the young pitchers they have. According to MLB Pipeline, there are three pitchers inside the Mets’ top five prospects. If everything goes right, they’ll no longer have to rely on free-agent reclamation projects to fill out their rotation. Instead, they can rely on their minor league system to produce their starters.
However, with the struggles the rotation has had in 2025, many have called for the Mets to call up one of these starters, especially after they failed to acquire one at the trade deadline. While everyone agrees a starter should be called up, the question is whether it should be Nolan McLean or Brandon Sproat. While both pitchers have had varying degrees of success in 2025, both have earned a call-up, but the smarter move will be to call up McLean.
How Nolan McLean earned a promotion over Brandon Sporat
The biggest problem the Mets starters have had this season is their inability to go deep into games. So far this season, Mets starters have averaged roughly five innings per start. In fact, out of the 118 games they’ve played, the starters have gone six innings or more only 33 times, that’s 27.9% of games. To make this stat worse, David Peterson has accounted for 15 of them. Meaning that all the other starters have gone six or more innings 18 times this season. This is unsustainable for any team, let alone a team trying to make the postseason.
McLean would help the Mets solve this problem. In his 18 starts this season, he’s pitched into the sixth inning 13 times. Compared to Sproat, who has pitched into the sixth inning in six of his 22 starts. Sproat has been getting deeper into games as of late, but McLean has shown the ability to do it all season. He would give the Mets a second pitcher they can count on to at least pitch into the sixth inning. While you’ll still have to worry about the other pitchers in the rotation, you know, at least twice a week, you can give your bullpen a bit of rest. This will help limit the relievers’ workload and prevent them from being overworked.
Sproat has not been as consistent as McLean has been this season. So far this season, Sproat has pitched 101 innings to an ERA of 4.10 with 86 strikeouts to 45 walks and a WHIP of 1.26. While these stats don’t seem terrible, it’s being held up by his elite month of July. Once you take out that month, he has a 5.35 ERA over 74 innings with a 1.419 WHIP. Not exactly a number that inspired much confidence.
On the other hand, McLean has been much more consistent. Over his 113 2/3 innings, he has an ERA of 2.45 with 127 strikeouts to 50 walks and a WHIP of 1.13. While he hasn’t been as dominant as he was earlier in the season, he has not struggled the way Sproat has at times. It would be much smarter to call up the pitcher who has been consistent all season instead of a pitcher who’s been up and down all year.
The best part of this decision is that there isn’t a wrong answer. Whether it’s Sproat or McLean, they should go a long way to help the Mets solve their rotation woes. However, McLean provides much more upsides than Sproat does.
