8/3/25

After recent struggles from starters Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes and no trades being made on the trade deadline for a starter, the Mets are in desperate need of another starter, and the only options are to wait for Megill or Blackburn to return from injury or call up a prospect like Sproat or McLean. 

Since making his Mets debut in late June, Montas has posted a 6.68 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, and 29 strikeouts across 33.2 innings while never making it a full 6 innings in his 7 starts. Montas is completely lost and is the biggest hole in this struggling starting rotation.

Clay Holmes, on the other hand, has not had a bad year in his first year as a starter, but as of recently, he has struggled heavily. In 6 appearances since the start of July, Holmes has posted a 4.91 ERA, 16 strikeouts, and 35 hits, while not making it a full 6 innings since June 7th. It seems that he has just run out of gas, and moving him to the bullpen could be a positive move. 

If and hopefully when the Mets find put one of these guys in the bullpen, the options are to have Megill or Blackburn start when their back from injury or bring up McClean or Sproat from AAA.

The Mets already know what they have in Megill and Blackburn. Megill has a 5.56 ERA in his last 9 starts before injury, and Blackburn has a 10.54 ERA in his last 5 appearances before injury. 

The option the Mets have is to bring up one of their AAA prospects, and that would either be #3 ranked prospect Nolan McLean or #5 ranked prospect Brandon Sproat

Number 3 ranked in the Mets' farm system, Nolan McLean, is the most MLB-ready talent in the Mets' minor league system. The 24-year-old has put up a 3.01 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 3.71 BB/9, and a 9.62 K/9 in 11 games started in AAA with a 5-4 record. McLean has an arsenal of a fastball that hits up to 98 mph, a cutter, a curveball, and an elite sweeping slider with horizontal movement that can hit up to 20 inches.

Number 5 ranked prospect Brandon Sproat has struggled a little bit this year, but had an outstanding July. Sproat, 24, has allowed just 2 runs in 27 innings in July with 14 hits and 33 strikeouts. In 2024, Sporat had an amazing year, but at the start of 2025, he struggled, and after changing his stride and using his fastball more, he went back to his former self, he was a year ago.

The Mets have options, but McLean has to be the move here; he has been the most consistent starter in AAA and is 100% MLB-ready.