Despite the Mets having strict innings limits on pitcher Christian Scott this season, Scott does not have a strict innings limit, manager David Stearns said.
There is no set amount the team is allocating for the rookie right-hander.
But the team has done everything it can to ensure his future health, including removing him after 77 pitches in Monday’s loss to the Pirates and demoting him to the minor leagues in June to reduce his innings.
“We don’t have a crystal ball here. We don’t have an exact answer as far as pitch counts. We don’t have an innings limit set for Scottie,” Stearns, the team’s president of baseball operations, said Tuesday at Citi Field before the Mets and Nationals began a three-game series. “We’re going to evaluate how he’s doing as best we can, month-by-month, from Opening Day to Opening Day, and make a decision from there. In this case, we have a pitcher who hasn’t pitched much on normal rest. He’s coming back on four days’ rest.”
“I knew that one of those first few starts was going to push him a little harder and the other was going to hold him back a little harder.”
The 25-year-old Scott has pitched well, posting a 4.15 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in seven starts with 30 strikeouts in 39 innings.
But the converted reliever has never pitched more than 87 ²/₃ innings in a season, and already has 81 ¹/₃ this year, including those pitched with Triple-A Syracuse.
That’s why the Mets are being cautious with him.
“We’re trying to give him as much rest and recovery as possible. There’s no innings limit and we’re being smart about it,” Stearns said. “This is going to be a competitive year and we’re hoping to get into the playoffs and we’re trying to get him to that finish line and hopefully beyond.”
Another factor that led to him being removed early, despite allowing just two runners in 5 2/3 innings against the Pirates, was that it was his first start of the year on four days’ rest.
The Mets gave him extra rest in both the major and minor leagues.
The team is expected to move to a six-man rotation once Kodai Senga returns after the All-Star break, which would allow Scott and the rest of the rotation an extra day of rest between starts.
