Can Nolan McLean Save New York Mets’ Season in His Big League Debut?

Nolan McLean is a new-era New York Mets prospect, which means he doesn’t have to worry about being set up to fail like so many of his predecessors, many of whom came and went before McLean was even born in July 2001.

He will not arrive with a nickname ready-made for posters. He will not be throwing 120 pitches as a rookie, as Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson — Generation K — all did in 1995-96. He will not be touted as a savior by an ownership that is both eager to win a news cycle and quick to abandon players at the first sign of on- or off-field trouble.

“Just have fun — have fun, go out there and be yourself,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday afternoon. “We’re not expecting heroes.”

Except, well, McLean kind of does have to save the Mets’ season this afternoon, when the right-hander makes his big league debut against the Seattle Mariners.

The Mets continued their stunning collapse Friday night, when they lost for the 14th time in 16 games by once again blowing a multi-run lead in an 11-9 loss to the Mariners.

McLean will take the mound for a team still clinging to a playoff spot only because the Cincinnati Reds remained a half-game back of the third wild-card berth after squandering a seven-run lead in a 10-8 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

And all McLean has to do to ensure today is a success is pitch six innings — a bar that is either improbably or impossibly high to clear. Just 26 of the 173 pitchers to make their big league debuts in a starting role since 2022 have lasted at least six innings, including four of 26 this season.

This impressive feat for a starting pitcher in his debut would qualify as one of the biggest miracles in franchise history for a team with no shortage of experience in borderline supernatural moments.

Only one New York starter, All-Star David Peterson, has pitched six innings since June 8 — a 57-game span in which the Mets have gone 23-34 while their starters have compiled a 5.04 ERA and averaged 4.6 innings per outing.

Even if McLean goes six (or more?) innings today and lessens the crisis the Mets are enduring, his long-term fate is a long way from being determined. The Mets have raved about McLean’s makeup and readiness, and while there’s no reason to doubt what they say, there’s also no way to know how he’ll handle the inevitable failures endured by young big leaguers.

Perhaps he will be the high-profile success — the likes of Pete Alonso, Jacob deGrom, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo all arrived with muted or minimal expectations — who proves the Steve Cohen-era Mets are finally an organization in which highly touted prospects will be afforded plenty of patience and a long runway in their development.

Or maybe the Mets are just destined to always be the Mets, a team that no longer wants to place unreasonable burdens or expectations upon its top prospects but simply can’t change the ruinous cycle begun by the Wilpons. Such existential concerns are for another time. Today, the Mets just need Nolan McLean to save their season.