Nolan McLean is set to take the mound again against the Diamondbacks in what will be his eighth start of the season. He enters the game with a 1-2 record and a 2.97 ERA, and he will look to pick up his first win since April 3.
The right-hander will pitch Friday night at Chase Field in a 9:40 p.m. ET matchup. His latest outing did not go deep, and the outing again raised questions about how long he can stay efficient when his pitch mix is not working as planned.
Recent form and workload
McLean’s most recent start came in Anaheim, where he worked only four innings and needed 78 pitches, with 51 of them strikes. He said afterward that he mostly trusted his sinker, and that limited approach gave opposing hitters fewer reasons to respect his offspeed pitches.
That pattern has made some of his outings harder to manage. When he falls behind in counts, McLean has been forced into more stressful at-bats, and that has affected his ability to work deeper into games.
A strikeout profile that stands out
Even with those efficiency issues, McLean has still produced swing-and-miss stuff. Among National League pitchers with at least 30 innings, his 11.67 strikeouts per nine innings ranks second, behind only Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski.
That kind of strikeout rate shows the upside in his arsenal. The challenge has been pairing those missing bats with better command and more consistent execution across his full pitch mix.
What McLean said after the last outing
“I just wasn’t executing,” McLean said after his last start. “Like I’ve stated a lot this year, it’s really hard to pitch behind in counts.” His comments reflect the same issue that has shaped several of his outings this season.
When McLean gets into early trouble, he has had less room to use his secondary pitches the way he wants. That can make his sinker more predictable and put more pressure on him to avoid mistakes.
The earlier meeting with Arizona
McLean has already faced the Diamondbacks once and turned in a quality start, but he took the loss on April 9. In that game, he allowed two runs on three hits and two walks over 6 1/3 innings.
Jose Fernandez was the most effective hitter against him in that matchup. Fernandez singled and doubled in three at-bats, giving Arizona one of the clearest looks at how to handle McLean when the command is not perfect.