Mets' ace Scott is finding his groove again
James Schiano discusses Mets' pitcher Christian Scott's strong stretch over his last six starts and why the Mets right-hander could emerge as a top-50 starting pitcher for the rest of the season.
Video Transcript
In a highly disappointing Mets season so far with very, very few bright spots of note, the re-emergence of starting pitcher Christian Scott has been a big one.
He started their second half on the right note, shrouded by wildfire smoke in a standalone game against the Phillies on Thursday night, going five and two-thirds innings, allowing just three hits, no runs, no walks, and seven strikeouts in a win.
He now has a two-point-seven-six ERA and one-point-one-six WHIP over his last six starts, and the Mets are actually five and one in those games.
Oddly enough, the forty-one and fifty-seven Mets are ten and three in games that Scott has started this season, which means they are thirty-one and fifty-four in games where he has not gotten the ball.
That is just unbelievable to think about that one player can have this level of importance on a team this bad.
But those six starts by Scott, where he's looked like he's turned a corner, have also come around a short trip to the injured list with a hip impingement.
It's also important to note that Scott's back this season after a very long road back from Tommy John surgery, and he hasn't pitched in the big league since the middle of the two thousand twenty-four season.
But now he's back on a roll, armed with his fantastic fastball that sits in the mid to upper nineties with great vertical action and just misses tons of bats in the strike zone, and a sweeper that moves like a Frisbee that will stymie any right-handed batter that comes into the box.
Where Scott has hit a bit of a roadblock this season is approach against lefties.
He's been working on a cutter that has become more consistent over the last month or so and recently started to incorporate a curveball more so that right now is just here to steal strikes rather than get whiffs.
But Scott's one of these rocket ship pitchers armed with such an amazing foundation with that fastball and sweeper, where if that cutter or curveball, or possibly both, ever come together, he's going to get a lot better very quickly.
As far as the rest of this season, he should be considered more of a top fifty starting pitcher despite his very low ERA and very high strikeout rate, just because he's yet to complete six innings pitched so far with those roadblocks against lefties, and the fact that he's likely due for an innings limit by the end of the season because of the recovery from Tommy John.
