Players of the Week: “M&M” Boys Lead Mets to 3-1 Start

When the Mets needed to start their season with a roar, it was the most unexpected of names who played hero in the nation’s capital.

Memorable weekends from Tylor Megill and Jeff McNeil paved the way for the Mets to win three of four games against the Nationals. As a result, they overpowered their division rivals in the season’s first series. Megill and McNeil entered this spring with question marks after disappointing endings to their 2021 campaigns but could not have asked for a better way to kick off the new year. The success of the M&M duo this weekend was enough to name them Players of the Week for the Mets first week of 2022.

Tylor Megill

Not even penciled into the Mets starting rotation a few weeks ago, Tylor Megill delivered an Opening Day start that reminded fans of ace Jacob deGrom – the man Megill replaced on Thursday’s lineup card.

Over five masterful, scoreless innings, Megill allowed just three hits, only one of which went for extra bases. He struck out six National batters, his final K coming on a swing and miss against Victor Robles.

Megill primarily utilized his four-seam fastball (57% of his pitches). But it was his slider and changeup that led to the highest percentages of whiffs in the afternoon (63% and 33%, respectively). The slider, in particular, was dominant, with half of his 14 offerings eliciting either a called strike or whiff – good for a mark of 50 CSW%.

His fastball reached a top speed of 99.1 miles per hour, but with an average pitch speed of 92.6 MPH, he was able to keep Washington hitters guessing while he remained on the mound.

Megill looked every bit the pitcher he was over the first half of the 2021 season when his ERA was just north of 2.00. Megill earned the win in his first start of the season. His dominance allowed the Mets franchise to improve 40-21 all-time on Opening Day, expanding onto their league-best mark.

Honorable Mention: Chris Bassitt 

Jeff McNeil

After Jeff McNeil posted career lows last season in hitting and getting on base, his name came up in frequent trade talks. With the Mets adding on three premium bats this winter, McNeil was seen as an expandable bat, especially coming off last year’s struggles. However, “Squirrel” has collected two base hits in Opening Day’s win and has not slowed down since.

On Friday, McNeil shined through, knocking a home run – on his 30th birthday, no less – for his first long ball of the young season. This was just the cherry on top of an all around stellar day for the Mets utilityman, who went three for four at the plate, with two RBIs and a walk drawn.

Saturday saw McNeil “cool off,” going just one for five at the dish extending his season-opening hitting streak to three games.

In Sunday’s series finale, McNeil again got on base by way of a single while drawing his second walk of the season. This season, McNeil’s seven total hits are tied for second in the major leagues. That mark ties him with teammate Mark Canha on the league hit leaderboard for this year.

Honorable Mention: Mark Canha