Minors Recap: Nolan McLean Strikes Out 10 Again

Carson Benge is keeping his stellar 2025 season on track, this time with a big day at the plate in the Rumble Ponies 3-0 win, Syracuse managed a walk-off win behind an RBI single by Joey Meneses, and St. Lucie and Brooklyn both scored over 10 runs in their victories, giving the Mets farm system a clean sweep on Wednesday.

Triple-A

Syracuse Mets (42-47) 2, Lehigh Valley IronPigs (52-35) 1

BOX SCORE

• CF Drew Gilbert – 1-for-4, 1 K (.744 OPS)
• DH Joey Meneses – 2-for-3, 1 RBI (39), 1 BB (.749 OPS)
• C Francisco Alvarez – 0-for-3, 1 BB, 1 K (.760 OPS)

The Syracuse bats were silent most of the night, only putting up five hits and three baserunners on the night. Francisco Alvarez, despite an 0-for-3 night, is showing improvements to his approach that should see him returning to the majors after the All-Star break. Drew Gilbert is having his best month of the 2025 season, slashing .320/.414/.720 for a 1.134 OPS with three home runs in 25 at-bats.

• RHP Nolan McLean (2.52 ERA) 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 10 K (62 of 97 pitches for strikes)

Nolan McLean has found another gear in July, putting together his two most impressive starts consecutively. Over his last 11 innings, McLean has struck out 20 and walked four. There isn’t much preventing McLean from getting promoted, and using a six-man rotation in New York would keep McLean, who threw 109 2/3 innings in 2024 and 87 in 2025 so far, somewhat limited.

Double-A

Binghamton Rumble Ponies (55-26) 3, Altoona Curve (39-43) 0

BOX SCORE

• CF Carson Benge 2-for-3, 2 R, 2B, HR (2), 2 RBI (7), 1 BB, 1 K (1.010 OPS)
• SS Jett Williams – 0-for-4, 1 K (.865 OPS)
• RF Nick Morabito – 1-for-3, 1 RBI (43), 1 BB (.784 OPS)
• 1B Ryan Clifford – 0-for-4, 2 K (.847 OPS)
• DH Jacob Reimer – 0-for-3, 2 K

Carson Benge has acclimated himself to Double-A quite well, slashing .325/.460/.550 with two homers and a 10/7 BB/K to go along with two stolen bases. Jett Williams has struggled thus far in July, with a .192/.267/.308 line with three walks to seven strikeouts – despite three of his five hits on the month being for extra-bases.

• RHP Cameron Foster (1.14 ERA) 2 IP, 1 H
• RHP Ryan Lambert (2.31 ERA) 1 IP, 1 BB, 1 K
• RHP Anthony Nunez (1.86 ERA) 1 IP, 1 K

On a bullpen day, Binghamton pitcher only allowed three hits, and only one after the fourth inning. Cameron Foster has not allowed a run since May 3rd, and even more impressively, hasn’t walked a batter since May 23rd. Ryan Lambert’s control has not been as sharp in Double-A, but he is limiting the hits and still striking batters out, so the success continues.

High-A

Brooklyn Cyclones (55-28) 13, Wilmington Blue Rocks (38-44) 0

BOX SCORE

• CF Eli Serrano III – 1-for-3, 2 R, 1 RBI (35), 2 BB (.761 OPS)
• 1B Chris Suero – 1-for-3, 3 R, HR (13), 2 RBI (50), 1 BB, 1 K (.843 OPS)
• 2B A.J. Ewing – 1-for-3, 3 R, 2B, SB (39), 3 BB, 1 K (.800 OPS)
• 3B Jesus Baez – 1-for-3, 1 R, 2B, (.762 OPS)
• SS Colin Houck – 0-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K (.604 OPS)
• DH Corey Collins – 0-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI (4), 1 BB, 2 K (.744 OPS)

Wherever Chris Suero plays, he is going to hit. The 1B/OF/C hit his Cyclones-leading 13th home run of the season in addition to scoring three runs. The Cyclones were helped on the day by 11 walks, three wild pitches, two hit batsman and two errors on their way to 13 runs behind only nine hits.

• RHP Brendan Girton (2.69 ERA) 4 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K (49 of 75 pitches for strikes)
• RHP Ryan Ammons (1.82 ERA) 1 2/3 IP, 3 K
• RHP Brett Banks (1.29 ERA) 2 IP, 4 K

Brendan Girton regained his control on Wednesday after struggling his last time out to go four-plus quality innings. The rest of the bullpen did the work, keeping the game scoreless and striking out ten batters in their innings of work.

Low-A

St. Lucie Mets (44-37) 10, Bradenton Marauders (40-42) 2

BOX SCORE

• 3B Trey Snyder – 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI (34), 1 BB, CS (6)(.667 OPS)
• SS Jeremy Rodriguez – 2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI (23), CS (8), 1 K (.579 OPS)
• C Daiverson Gutierrez – 3-for-5, 1 R, 2B, 1 BB (.669 OPS)
• LF Nick Roselli – 4-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI (23), SB (5) (.649 OPS)
• CF Yonatan Henriquez – 3-for-4, 1 R, 4 RBI (31), SB (18), 1 BB (.646 OPS)

St. Lucie smoked 22 hits today – and not one of them left the yard. Five different Mets had at least three hits. They attempted eight steals on the day and were successful five times. Jeremy Rodriguez seems to be pressing at the plate as the season has gone on, walking 30 combined times in April/May, to only seven in June and two in July.

• RHP Hunter Hodges (2.86 ERA) 1 IP, 2 K

Hunter Hodges has been a below-the-radar pitcher for St. Lucie, having struck out 42 hitters over 28 1/3 innings. Hodges has walked 21, so the control has not been there but a .167 BAA will help mitigate some of that damage on the basepaths.

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