WASHINGTON — Adult Nolan McLean is looking forward to his encore.
As is Young Nolan McLean, who grew up in North Carolina rooting for the Braves and listed Chipper Jones among his childhood heroes (which also included a few Orioles and Nationals, plus North Carolinian Josh Hamilton).
His parents and fiancée will be at Truist Park, about a six-hour drive from where he was raised.
“It’s in the area where we got to go to the most games, probably,” McLean said before the Mets lost a series and momentum in a 9-3 thud at Nationals Park on Thursday. “A lot of our travel ball when I was growing up was in Atlanta, so we’d always stop by their new ballpark and try to catch a game any time we could.”
This visit will be different, not taking a seat but the mound.
The 24-year-old righty will make the second start of his career and be formally introduced to the Mets-Braves rivalry after what has been a whirlwind week.
He was at a road series in Rochester a week ago Wednesday when Triple-A Syracuse pitching coach A.J. Sager delivered the news that he would be making his big league debut the following Saturday.
He dominated over 5 ¹/₃ scoreless, two-hit, four-walk, eight-strikeout innings in a win over the Mariners at Citi Field, then voyaged to Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League Classic, “which was awesome,” for a day before traveling south to the nation’s capital and finally flying to Atlanta.
“I didn’t really pack for any of this,” McLean said with a smile, lugging the same suitcase with the same limited amount of clothes that he had in Rochester. “I ran out of clothes completely, so I’m just kind of winging it. I had to wash my clothes at the field [Wednesday].”
He is not complaining and finds himself a large part of a hurting rotation — Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea delivering back-to-back duds — in the middle of a playoff chase.
A pitcher who two weekends ago faced off against the Charlotte Knights now will have to tame an Atlanta offense that has come alive in the second half.
He is aware that many will be watching, and not just Mets fans.
He has waded through “probably hundreds” of text messages since his debut and has heard from family, friends, old teammates and coaches, and done his best to respond to each one.
Thrust into the majors and into the spotlight, McLean can expect his phone to stay busy as he pitches in a park he knows better as a fan.
“I’m trying to treat every start the same, just go out there and compete,” McLean said. “But it’s going to be a cool environment, I’m sure. So go out there and do the best I can.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
