NEW YORK — New York Mets rookie Christian Scott has shown a high level of toughness in his early career. His competitiveness and ability to overcome setbacks led him to believe he could avoid elbow surgery. And while that ultimately didn’t happen, Scott’s perseverance in the face of injury is a strong indication he can return to form.
Scott, the club’s top pitcher, will undergo Tommy John hybrid surgery and an internal brace early next week. More and more players have been opting for the brace lately because it protects the ligament in the early stages of the rehab process.
The 25-year-old said he expects to be back in action sometime in 2026.
The Mets placed Scott on the 15-day injured list on July 23, a few days after his last appearance, with a UCL sprain. Before opting for surgery, Scott attempted to rehab himself in hopes of returning to play toward the end of the season. Surgery was never ruled out as an option from the start.
Scott said he met with Dr. Keith Meister in Texas on Monday after his recent bullpen sessions failed to produce the progress he had hoped for. The tear in his elbow is said to be a Grade 2. But Scott said he was unable to land his offspeed pitches with full effectiveness. Scott estimated he was able to hit about 85 percent of his velocity when pitching, but felt tightness. Since he can’t pitch at 100 percent, it was only logical to opt for the procedure.
News: New York Mets RHP Christian Scott (@chscott8) will undergo combined traditional TJ ligament replacement surgery along with the internal brace, a so-called hybrid procedure, performed by Dr. Keith Meister, early next week.
We look forward to supporting him in his…
– Nate Heisler (@Nate_Heisler) 18 September 2024
“We’ve gotten a lot of opinions from the best minds in the world on this and the Mets have an incredible medical team that can help you with that, but after going through the options, it was really in my best interest to do this now and give myself a little more time to be ready for 2026,” Scott said in a phone interview early Wednesday afternoon. “We talked about different options with the rest of the rehab. But, I mean, the rest of the rehab obviously didn’t go according to plan. It went well for a while, but just as we were trying to increase the grounds and the offspeed pitches, we just didn’t quite get to where we wanted to.”
Scott could have undergone the procedure in late July, but waiting an additional two months had no significant impact on his return timeline.
“2026 is definitely the timeline for returning to play,” Scott said. “If I get it back now or in July, it actually wouldn’t be that different. It actually gives me a little bit more time to improve my pitches and innings and be in a better position for 2026. So I think I’m in a good position now. We have top-notch medical staff and I have complete confidence because of what they’ve done for me so far in my career.”
“I’m definitely super grateful for the opportunity this year. But I’ll do everything I can to be even better in 2026.”
After breaking through as the best pitcher in the farm system in 2023, Scott split his time between Triple A and the major leagues this season. He made his major league debut on May 4, holding the Tampa Bay Rays to one run in 6 2/3 innings. He was sent to Syracuse in late May, in part so the Mets could limit his use. Overall, Scott pitched 89 2/3 innings in 18 starts in the majors and Triple A. In nine starts (47 1/3 innings) with the Mets, Scott had a 4.56 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP with 39 strikeouts and 12 walks, showing signs of what brought him to the top of the club system.
In 2023, the Mets named Scott their minor league pitcher of the year after he had a 2.57 ERA with 107 strikeouts in three levels. Notably, the breakout season included an elbow injury that at the time raised the possibility of surgery. But Scott was ultimately able to overcome it.
“I’m really proud of the maturity and perseverance that Christian has shown throughout this process,” said Nate Heisler, vice president of Klutch Baseball North America and Scott’s agent. “He’s been battling this elbow injury for over a year and trying everything he can to get on the mound and be a fixture on the club. Fans don’t know what these guys go through sometimes, and there were some days where Christian took the ball completely on his own accord when he wasn’t feeling 100 percent and tried to push through whatever he could to help the team.”
Scott described the situation last year as similar to this year. But last season, Scott had a different, more serious tear in a different part of his elbow. Because of the location on the elbow, he was eventually able to throw again. At the time of the injury in 2023, he felt tightness after a few starts and ended up taking two weeks off. He opted for rest and rehab at the time, and things went well. He returned after 21 days.
“That was great to be able to set the tone for next year,” Scott said. “I was able to really test it in the game with multiple innings, get the velocity back up and even increase it. That was a testament to the work we put into this process. And just having the trust of that medical staff to be able to go out there and give me the opportunity to compete with the work that we’ve done was really great.”
“This year we had something similar and it was pretty close, but at the same time I thought after last year that this would be an opportunity to rest and rehab, especially with the time frame that we had, since we weren’t pressed for time or anything like that. It just seemed to make a lot of sense to try to do the same thing we did last year. So we did our best. I mean, especially with the medical staff and the training staff, we left no stone unturned. We tried a lot of things. It just wasn’t responding to the slow throws.”
On Tuesday, around the time news of his surgery was announced, Scott said he had spoken to some of the Mets’ veteran pitchers about how to best approach recovery. He has relied on their advice all season. Scott was eager to be part of the Mets’ chase for a wild-card spot or to help in some capacity in the playoffs.
“He was eager to be in this championship race with his teammates, but when we realized he wasn’t able to play at his best, we decided it was time to pursue the surgical option,” Heisler said. “This is an exciting Mets team and I know he’s very disappointed not to be able to contribute over the last few months. I have every confidence he will diligently rehab and come back better than ever in 2026.”
Even without Scott, the rotation has pitched well and managed to keep the Mets firmly in contention 11 games before Wednesday’s game against the Washington Nationals. Now, he said, his job is just to be the best teammate he can be.
“I’m super, super blessed to be able to do this and I want to take advantage of every opportunity I get because I know the window of opportunity for baseball is super small. So I want to take advantage of every opportunity I get to get the ball. I want to compete at a high level,” Scott said. “But at the same time, I’m not going to do this if I’m not 100 percent and don’t have the ability to do it.
“I think we’ve earned the best possible spot. I’m super grateful. Now it’s just about getting healthy again, just like in 2026.”
(Photo by Christian Scott: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
