After being sidelined for 18 months due to undergoing Tommy John surgery combined with an internal brace procedure, Christian Scott is finally back on the mound. He pitched out of the bullpen on Wednesday against Team Israel and instantly impressed, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief while striking out five batters and giving up two hits, marking his first real game action since his rookie days in 2024.
Christian Scott Back on a Mound in First Game
Usually, a player returning from Tommy John surgery will struggle with command and may have a down tick in velocity. However, that was not the case whatsoever with Scott. The 26-year-old threw 50 pitches total, with 40 of them being for strikes. His fastball reached as high as 96.8 mph.
“I was a little nervous out there,” Scott said admittedly. “I haven’t thrown in so long with the defense and the crowd and what not. Being able to go out there and just compete with the defense behind me and a lot of the guys that I grew up with in the system was a lot of fun to be able to do that.”
Scott, a 6’4, 215-pound right-hander, was drafted by the New York Mets in the fifth-round (142nd overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft from the University of Florida, where he was teammates with Brandon Sproat, who the Mets traded this offseason.
Once ranked as high as No. 5 on the Mets’ Top 30 Prospects list, Scott made his MLB debut in 2024. He logged a record of 0-3 with a 1.204 WHIP in nine appearances (47 1/3 innings), before needing to get the aforementioned TJ surgery.
“A long time,” Scott said on how long he has been thinking of the day of returning to a mound. “Probably, what, 18 months, I would say? As soon as I got the surgery done, I knew this was on the horizon, so it was just about being consistent, keeping the day-to-day [activities going] and keeping the faith. I’ve been thinking of this day for a long time, really excited to get my feet underneath me.”
Already Ahead of the Curve
While the expectation, barring injuries to others, is for Scott to begin 2026 with Triple-A Syracuse, his first outing of the spring certainly left an impression.
“Pretty impressive. First time out there facing another team, it’s been a long road for him,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It hasn’t been easy, especially when you have to go through the whole rehab process. The way the ball’s coming out, it’s got life on his fastball, not only 96 [mph] but it’s just live. The way he was using all of his pitches; the cutter was really good, the sweeper was good, the changeup, everything. He attacked, that’s one thing from [Scott is] he’s not gonna back down from attacking hitters. He’s going stay on the attack and we saw that today. Just the fact that he was competing out there was fun to watch.”
Main Photo Credits: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
