Nolan McLean wins NL Gold Glove, ends Mets drought
TLDR: Nolan McLean was named the National League Gold Glove winner at pitcher, the Mets' first Gold Glove since Juan Lagares in 2014 and the end of the second-longest active drought in the Majors.
The Mets went into Sunday night with 3 Gold Glove finalists and a 12-year hole to climb out of. The rookie got them out.
News: Nolan McLean was named a National League Gold Glove winner at pitcher. It's the Mets' first Gold Glove since Juan Lagares in 2014, ending the second-longest active drought in the Majors.
Sit with that drought for a second. The last Met to take one home was Juan Lagares, the center fielder who ran down everything in Flushing in 2014. Since then, a decade-plus of Mets baseball went by with nobody in orange and blue getting the hardware, and only 1 other club in the sport has gone longer. Luis Torrens at catcher and Carson Benge in right field were also finalists, but McLean was the one who cashed it in.
It isn't just the end of a drought, either. McLean is the first Mets rookie to win a Gold Glove at any position, and only the 2nd Mets pitcher ever to win one. The other is Ron Darling, back in 1989. For a franchise that has had a few decent arms over the years, that's a pretty exclusive club to walk into in your first full season.
Lagares won his on highlight-reel catches. McLean won his by shutting down the running game. Opponents tried to steal on him only 8 times all year and got 6 bags. He picked off 3 runners. He finished with 4 Defensive Runs Saved, tied for 4th in MLB, and that put him ahead of Michael McGreevy, Tanner Bibee and Shota Imanaga. Pitchers don't usually get to show off their glove, but when the guy on first is scared to take a lead, that counts as defense.
And the arm was there too. McLean went 12-10 with a 3.16 ERA over 31 starts, which is a hell of a rookie year before you even get to the fielding. It probably helps that he was a college quarterback at Oklahoma State and played 6 different positions in college baseball. This is an athlete who happens to pitch, and it showed every time a ball came back up the middle.
Here's more on Nolan McLean's Gold Glove: t.co/3kuGed9VB6
He might not be done collecting stuff this month, either. McLean is up for NL Rookie of the Year against his own teammate Benge, the Reds' Sal Stewart and the Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt, and that one gets announced November 9. Whether he wins it or not, the Mets now have a homegrown rookie starter who can do it all, and the Lagares trivia question finally has a new answer.
