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Nolan McLean felt good about his stuff, which became a problem.
On a chilly and windy Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, maybe the best pitcher in the game at manipulating a baseball watched as he could not throw strikes.
The season’s first McLean Day got off to a strange start, the young righty throwing seven of eight balls to begin the game and walking the first two batters he faced.
“Throwing into headwinds is sometimes a little tricky, especially when my stuff’s moving a little more dramatically than it normally does,” McLean said after what became a 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Pirates. “So I was just trying to find where I need to start my pitches and was just a little bit later than I wanted to be in that.”
It took McLean 15 pitches to record his first out. A sweeper that got too much of the plate became an RBI single to Ryan O’Hearn. When he finally escaped and stranded a pair, he had expended 24 pitches.
Then he began getting a better feel for where to aim, relied more on his cutter and changeup and stayed away from his sinker until later in the game.
And soon he again looked like the potential star who burst on the scene last season. McLean allowed a third-inning home run to Brandon Lowe but otherwise was not dented while letting up those two runs on four hits and two walks and striking out eight in five innings.
His changeup, which probably was his worst pitch last season and became an offseason and camp focus, looked sharp and induced four whiffs on six swings. His curveball often looked unhittable, including one that made O’Hearn look silly to finish the top of the fifth.
If this was a struggling McLean, the Mets can continue to dream upon what a rolling McLean can become this year.
“On days that he’s not at his best, he’s still going to find a way to give you a chance to win,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, “and that’s what he did today.”
In the third game of the season, Brett Baty became the third Mets infielder to start a game at a position he had never played in the major leagues.
The Mets’ experiments continued with Baty — originally a third baseman who saw a bit of minor league time in left before picking up second base last season — getting the nod at first base after a spring crash course at the position.
Baty made a few nifty picks and generally looked comfortable at the spot.
Baty replaced Jorge Polanco, who also picked up first base during the spring and looked wobbly at the spot in the first two games before moving to DH on Sunday. Bo Bichette, formerly a shortstop who had moonlit at second base, received another start at third.
Baty had never played first base in his life until camp, the Mets betting on his athleticism — he was a high school basketball star and is a gifted athlete — translating to another position. Baty looked natural in picking a ball off the dirt from Marcus Semien in the third and Francisco Lindor in the seventh.
Asked about Baty’s traits that led to comfort at first, Mendoza mentioned several: “How easily he moves around the base. His ability to use the whole bag with his footwork, corner to corner.”
His ability to pick up the baseball because he’s got such great hands. There’s a lot to like.”
With Baty’s mindset, too. The Mets did not know how the offseason was going to shake out. If the front office executed Plan A — landing Kyle Tucker — Baty likely would have returned to his natural third base.
But one January night Tucker agreed to terms with the Dodgers, and by the following morning the Mets had pivoted to Bichette. Suddenly, Baty’s position was filled, and what the Mets hope will be a super utilityman was born.
“We didn’t really know which way we were going to go as far as the roster construction, but [Baty] was all in,” Mendoza said. “And then watching him last year, learning second base and how easy he made that transition, we had no doubt that he was going to be able to do it with right field, first base.”
Baty will see time in right, Mendoza said, likely when he gives Luis Robert Jr. an off-day and moves Carson Benge to center.
Robert (2-for-3 with a walk) is 5-for-11 with five RBIs to begin his Mets tenure.
