The last time Christian Scott was at Citi Field, the 24-year-old right-hander was honored by the Mets as the club’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year. At the time, he had never pitched above Double-A and had never even been invited to big-league spring training.
Now, a little more than six months later, Scott is back as a big leaguer and a member of the Mets‘ rotation. He’ll make his first start in front of a home crowd Saturday against the Atlanta Braves, one of the best teams in baseball.
If you had told him he would be here six months ago when he was here with his minor league teammates, he would have simply said, “Awesome.”
“I’m just taking every day as it comes and not trying to look too much into the future,” Scott said Friday in the Citi Field clubhouse before the Mets opened their three-game series against the Braves. “I’m really just trying to control what I can — control the controllables. I feel like putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis can get you a lot of places.”
Mets fans got an introduction to Scott last weekend when he pitched 6 2/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. They saw a young pitcher unafraid of an aggressive lineup who identified adjustments he needed to make and made them with relative ease. Behind the scenes, Scott was as cool, calm and collected as any veteran, even saying he “slept like a baby” the night before his major league debut.
He was prepared with a plan of attack for the Tampa Bay lineup and just as prepared for the Atlanta lineup.
“Every lineup is going to be unique,” Scott said. “Every lineup has different holes and different ways you can attack them. The Rays were really aggressive against my fastball early in the game. If that was their scouting report, I’m going to be aware of other teams trying to do the same exact thing. So I’m just going to take every game as it comes, try to learn from the game.
“If I have one game plan going in, it’s important to try to execute that, but also not be opposed to switching it.”
Scott seems adept at riding the waves of a baseball season, though he has acknowledged that there will be new emotions, challenges and struggles at a higher level. His spot in the rotation also isn’t guaranteed past Saturday. It was a process to get to the big league after being drafted in the fifth round of the 2021 draft from the University of Florida, and it will be a process to keep his spot in the rotation as well.
If he has to go back to Triple-A at some point this season, so be it. Scott doesn’t necessarily set concrete goals for himself, instead focusing on how he can help the team win each day, whether it’s in the weight room, the meeting room or in the dugout watching how opposing hitters react to other pitchers.
Scott plans to watch the Braves closely Friday night when they face left-hander Jose Quintana.
“It’s nice to be able to see the swings and see the stances in the box,” Scott said. “But you also see a lot of video too when you’re preparing for them. So whatever it takes. I can get [scouting information] from video and analysis, but at the end of the day, it’s going out there and competing at a high level and establish the strike zone.”
Scott doesn’t typically watch video the day of a start, but he may start now that he’s seen Sean Manaea do it. The rookie knows what works for him and he’s trying to learn what works and what doesn’t for other veterans on the roster.
Scott hopes to dazzle Citi Field fans for years to come, starting with the Braves on Saturday afternoon.
“I’m excited to pitch for them. I mean, they’ve been great to me coming up and it’s been my dream ever since I got drafted here to pitch in front of them,” Scott said. “So I’m going to go out there and give them everything I’ve got.”
