Mets prospect Christian Scott to be called up for MLB debut

NEW YORK — Amidst a grinding swath of schedule, the Mets are about to debut one of their most promising young pitchers in recent memory.

The team plans to call up right-hander Christian Scott, their top overall pitching prospect, to start Saturday in Tampa Bay. Concerned with overworking their other rotation members during a stretch of 26 games in 27 days, the Mets are also rewarding Scott for his superlative April with Triple-A Syracuse.

“We feel like he’s ready,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He deserves it. He’s earned it the way he’s been throwing the ball.”

A college reliever who was the organization’s fifth-round Draft pick in 2021, Scott entered Spring Training alongside Mike Vasil and Dom Hamel atop the Mets’ Minor League pitching depth chart. He has since sprinted past both of them with a dominant run of five starts at Triple-A Syracuse.

In his first exposure to the level, Scott went 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA and 36 strikeouts over 25 1/3 innings. Although Scott has been homer-prone at Syracuse, giving up seven of them, he did not allow much other damage. Mets officials have lauded his ability to recover from those home runs and thrive in spite of them.

“I think it’s a credit to him mostly, and then also our player development system recognizing his capabilities,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said, “and preparing him for this moment.”

Some tweaks to Scott’s repertoire, including his transition to a four-seam fastball and his development of a sweeper to complement his hard slider, have transformed him from a fringe big league starter to a potential top-of-the-rotation arm, according to talent evaluators who have seen him throw. He now ranks No. 5 on MLB Pipeline’s Mets prospect list.

Although Scott is not a Pipeline Top 100 prospect, he isn’t far removed from that list, as well. The Mets have not had a Pipeline Top 100 pitcher debut since Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz both came up in 2015.

“His stuff’s incredible,” said Scott’s former Syracuse teammate Danny Young, a fellow University of Florida alumnus. “He’s mature. He’s got a plan.”

The Mets are calling Scott up now in part because of that success, and in part because they’re in the middle of a stretch of 26 games in 27 days. Calling up Scott allows the organization to offer him his first taste of the Majors while also giving their other starters at least one extra day of rest.

If Scott performs well, he could eventually supplant Adrian Houser, whose ERA rose to 8.16 on Thursday in a 7-6 win over the Cubs. Asked afterward if Houser made any progress in Thursday’s outing, manager Carlos Mendoza replied: “Not really.” But the team is not ready to replace Houser in the rotation at this time.

“Our job is to get him back on track,” Mendoza said.

So for at least one turn through the rotation, the club will proceed with six starting pitchers. The Mets remain committed to giving Houser at least one more start, partially…