Every time Christian Scott is on the mound for the Mets it’s a peek into what the franchise’s future rotation can look like.
However, the young pitcher’s career will inevitably have bumps as he learns to pitch in the majors, like what happened on Friday night in Miami. Scott took on the last-place Marlins in the first of a three-game set and did not have his best stuff.
The Florida native lasted just four innings, gave up four runs and struck out just three batters. All career worsts.
Of course, Scott’s major league career is just three starts deep but despite that, there was a lot to learn about the 24-year-old from Friday’s outing.
“Thought he got away from his fastball in the second inning, especially against left-handed hitters,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Scott’s start after the game. “One of those where he got away from his fastball…the changeup didn’t use against lefties and they made him pay.”
That aforementioned second inning was where the Marlins got to Scott. Miami strung together hits and pushed across a run on a sac fly. But then catcher Nick Fortes — entering the game with a .127 average — launched a hanging slider over the left-center field wall.
“The fastball didn’t have the ‘hop’ that it usually has,” Mendoza added. “The pitch sequence for me….he got slider-happy against lefties.”
When Scott was told that his manager thought he was “slider-happy,” he chalked it up to execution.
“I don’t think I did a good job executing in the zone. Definitely had some hittable pitches there in the second, had a bad pitch there for the homer, hung a slider,” Scott explained. “Need to do a better job of executing in the zone especially in deeper in counts. The more pitches that they see, have to do a better job getting those sliders down and away. Have to make quality pitches there.”
