It’s a duel of rookies on the mound for Wednesday’s clash between the Mets and Nationals at Nationals Park.
Christian Scott gets another shot to pull his weight in the Mets’ rotation after getting recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, as Carlos Mendoza gears up for a busy July schedule.
Scott, a top pitching prospect in the Mets system, started five games throughout May and showcased encouraging potential by posting a 1.09 walks and hits per innings pitched (WHIP).
The 25-year-old right-hander flashed major-league maturity, lasting at least six innings in three of those starts while striking out 8 ¹/₃ batters per nine innings.
He returns to face one of the weakest power-hitting teams in baseball; the Nationals rank dead last in hard-hit percentage, reaching an exit velocity of 95 miles per hour or higher on only 35.6 percent of their batted balls.
This glaring deficiency has failed to produce total bases.
Washington has hit the second-fewest home runs and owns the third-worst slugging percentage, setting up Scott’s rising fastball velocity nicely.
Mitchell Parker has plenty more experience under his belt throughout his freshman campaign and — considering the poor run support behind him — has managed a 3.90 ERA.
But win or lose, the Mets’ bats are simply too hot to doubt right now.
Since June 3, when the Mets began a sweep of the Nats, they are leading MLB in weighted runs created-plus (wRC+) by a margin of 14.
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That’s in addition to leading the game in slugging percentage (.514) and wins above replacement (8.3).
After averaging over seven runs per game in that previous series against Washington, the Mets are undervalued on the run line here.
The play: Mets -1.5 (FanDuel, +132)