The Mets will recall Christian Scott from Triple-A Syracuse to start Thursday’s series finale against the Twins, bringing the 26-year-old back to the majors for the first time since Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2024.
Scott will oppose Twins starter Joe Ryan in a matchup that comes as the Mets try to stop an 11-game losing streak. It is a sharp test for a pitcher who made his major league debut in 2024, then was shut down in September 2024 for elbow surgery and is now 19 months removed from going under the knife.
Scott once looked like one of the organization’s best arms, and his first run in the big leagues backed up the hype. He posted a 4.56 ERA with a 19.8% strikeout rate and a 6.1% walk rate in his first nine starts in the Mets’ rotation in 2024. Before that, he threw 42 1/3 innings at Triple-A with a 2.76 ERA, a 33.5% strikeout rate and a 7.3% walk rate. That combination made him one of the club’s top pitching prospects and one of the more closely watched young arms in the sport.
The return has been a long time coming. Scott held opponents to three runs in six spring innings and has logged 13 2/3 innings in Syracuse in 2026, though the results there have been uneven. He owns a 5.27 ERA in Triple-A this year, even while striking out 29.3% of hitters and walking only 3.4%. His average four-seam fastball has sat at 95.3 mph, about a mile per hour above his previous levels, and he has paired it with a slider and splitter.
The timing matters because the Mets’ rotation is in rough shape beyond Nolan McLean. David Peterson is headed to the bullpen during the next turn through the rotation, while Carlos Mendoza said Kodai Senga will stay in the rotation even as his start is pushed back to Saturday. Peterson’s 5.40 ERA is tied heavily to a.373 batting average on balls in play, Clay Holmes has a sub-2.00 ERA but diminished strikeout and walk rates, and Sean Manaea has been shifted into a long relief and swing role. That leaves Scott with a real chance to help a staff that has been leaning on patchwork answers for too long.
For the Mets, Thursday is not just a welcome-back assignment. It is a measure of whether one of their most promising arms can steady a rotation that has run out of easy fixes.