Did the Mets just draft their own unicorn?

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Here’s the thing about two-way players: Rarely do they last in professional baseball.

Outside of Shohei Ohtani, whose “Unicorn” nickname should tell you all you need to know on the matter (and whose current status as an inactive pitcher should tell you the rest), the recent baseball landscape is littered with players who have tried, unsuccessfully, to pitch and hit at the same time.

The Mets now have one themselves in Nolan McLean, last year’s third-round Draft pick whom the organization plucked out of Oklahoma State with an eye toward letting him continue as both a starting pitcher and designated hitter. That lasted less than a calendar year, as McLean’s rapid progression as a pitcher prompted a promotion to Double-A Binghamton, where his bat wasn’t quite up to snuff. Citing the difficulty of being able to put in the proper work on both sides of the ball, McLean decided last month to give up hitting.

“I think it could be permanent,” the Mets’ No. 19 prospect said. “The main thing was just my workload and how my body was feeling. We knew it was going to be a challenge from the start on the amount of reps and how my body would be able to hold up. At the end of the day, I decided to prioritize focusing on pitching and my recovery between starts.”

Mets player development officials, many of whom figured this day would eventually come, were on board with the move. They understand the value of McLean on the mound, where he’s produced a 4.19 ERA with 78 strikeouts over 66 2/3 Minor League innings this year, despite an uneven transition to Double-A.

Why is this all relevant? Because with their first-round pick in this year’s Draft, the Mets didn’t just select another two-way player -- they took one of McLean’s college teammates, Carson Benge, who starred as both an outfielder and pitcher at Oklahoma State. On Draft Day, team officials weren’t necessarily effusive about the idea of letting Benge remain a two-way player -- at least not to the extent they were about McLean last year. And that makes sense. In the scouting community, Benge’s reputation is more that of a five-tool outfielder than an impact pitcher, despite his ability to throw in the mid-90s.

Even so, Benge said the Mets were among many clubs at least amenable to the idea of letting him do both, which -- despite all the counterarguments above -- is a reasonable organizational stance. It’s easier to let two-way players abandon the journey themselves, as McLean did, than to place restrictions on them from the start.

And hey, why not leave open the possibility that Benge could be the exception to the rule? If the Mets happen to end up with their own unicorn, that’s a pretty good outcome, too.

For more on Benge and his relationship with McLean, check out this feature from Draft Day. And learn about all the Mets’ Day 2 selections here.