How Nolan McLean turned his sweeper into a Mets weapon: ‘Wish I could spin a ball like that’

Sean Manaea is in his 10th season in the majors and still was taken aback by the movement on Nolan McLean’s signature pitch in the right-hander’s MLB debut with the Mets on Saturday.

“He has big-time stuff,” Manaea said. “That slider or sweeper, whatever you call it, is pretty amazing to watch. I wish I could spin a ball like that, but he has it.”

That “it” is an ability to get enormous movement on what McLean said is a sweeper that he developed in 2023, his final season at Oklahoma State, when he still was a two-way player for the Cowboys.

“I really found the pitch out in my draft year,” McLean said of his junior season with the Cowboys. “I hadn’t really thrown it in college — never, really — but I always knew I could spin the ball well.”