Christian Scott's confidence impresses Mets in strong start against Braves
In his second career start, in his Citi Field debut, Mets rookie pitcher Christian Scott showed why he has been highly touted in the organization.
While he wasn’t as dominant as his first start against the Tampa Bay Rays, Saturday’s start was against a much tougher opponent -- the Atlanta Braves.
Despite facing a Braves lineup with reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson and more, Scott limited Atlanta to just three runs over six-plus innings. And the Mets were very impressed by the 24-year-old.
“Had swing-and-miss with his fastball. The sweeper, the slider. He threw some splitters for swing-and-miss,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. “That inning, he got behind [Michael] Harris and [Orlando] Arcia. Other than that, I thought he was pretty good.”
That inning Mendoza referred to was in the third. Scott fell behind Harris 2-0 before giving up a single to lead off the inning. Arcia then ambushed a 2-0 inside fastball over the left-field wall to give the Braves a two-run lead, and Atlanta never looked back.
“There’s a lot of great hitters in that lineup,” Scott said of his outing. “Have a lot of respect for what they do. At the end of the day, just have to execute. Have confidence in my stuff. Confident in my preparation, routine. They took advantage of hitters' counts. That’s what good teams are going to do.”
Scott would give up one more run -- an RBI single to Harris in the fourth -- but that was all Atlanta would get off of the rookie in his Citi Field debut. Scott credits his aggressiveness for getting through his start without giving up too many runs.
“I feel like any time you limit free passes you’re gonna have more success so really wanted to establish the fastball early,” he explained. “Tried to get some chases out of the zone later in counts but I think they did a good job in hitter’s counts being able to stay on the fastball. Just gotta do a better job of executing those in those situations.”
Self-evaluations aside, Scott’s confidence shone through his start on Saturday. Facing some very talented hitters in front of the home crowd for the first time, the Florida native said he stayed calm in large part because of the array of pitches he can throw, something he credits the Mets organization for.
“A lot of credit to the Mets development staff. They gave me a couple of pitches to rely on,” Scott explained. “I was a two-pitch guy [in college]. Them really giving me a lot of weapons to deal with has helped me in those situations, for sure.”
Mendoza sees something more with Scott. Not only does he know Scott has the tools, he has the conviction to wield them in any situation.
“Pretty confident kid. The poise, his body language, demeanor on the mound. I don’t think the situation is too big for him,” the first-year skipper said. “He knows he’s good, he knows his stuff plays here, facing against a pretty good lineup and wasn’t intimidated. That’s really good to see especially for a young pitcher that’s just getting his feet wet at this level. It was a good sign.”
In his first two starts in the big leagues, Scott has allowed four runs in 12.2 innings pitched. He's also struck out 14 batters.
Unfortunately, Scott has been unable to pick up his first MLB win but he'll get his chance next week. Depending on how the Mets want to use their rotation, Scott could see his next turn be against another high-powered offense -- the Philadelphia Phillies.
If that's the case, Scott and the Mets are confident the young right-hander can handle it.
