As Mets rookie right-hander Christian Scott continues to work toward a potential late-season return from a UCL injury, he's starting to ramp things up a bit.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said before Tuesday's game at Citi Field that Scott is throwing with "higher intensity" on flat ground at 105 feet.
The next step will be for Scott to advance to throwing from 115 to 120 feet.
There's still plenty of hurdles for Scott to clear before an eventual return, including bullpen sessions, throwing to live hitters, and a possible rehab assignment.
Scott resumed throwing about 10 days ago after being shut down for a bit due to the UCL issue.
"I’m excited," he said at the time. "I love to do what I do. It’s really exciting now that this team is making a push towards the playoffs, so I’m just taking things day-by-day, but hopefully I get to be a part of that."
Scott has shown flashes of brilliance during his nine big league outings, which have been spread over two major league stints.
Following his first five Mets starts, spanning May 5 to May 30, Scott had a 3.90 ERA. At that point, he was sent back to Triple-A Syracuse for a while in order for his innings to be managed.
Scott returned on July 3 and made four starts after that before the injury happened, including a brilliant start against the Pirates in Pittsburgh where he allowed just one hit in 5.2 innings.
Across three minor league levels last season, Scott threw 87.2 innings -- the most he had ever thrown during his professional career.
Had the injury not popped up, he likely would've reached his innings limit (likely around 125 innings) before the season ended. Now, should Scott return during the stretch run, he could be able to pitch through the end of the regular season and the playoffs -- should the Mets get there.