Players of the Month: McNeil, Megill Shine in April

Buck Showalter’s New York Mets came out of the gate flying this season. Over the first month, they have played some tremendous team baseball and sit atop the National League East with a 15-7 record.

A month has already flew by this season and so much has already happened with the team. It appears this has the making of an extremely fun season at Citi Field. For this reason, everyone should be excited to see what else the group has in store as the season progresses. 

There have been some terrific performances from everyone on this roster so far this season. With all this being said, here are your players of the month for April:

Hitter of the Month: Jeff McNeil

Well, Mets’ fans, it’s safe to say Jeff McNeill is officially back. Heading into this season several expected a bounce back year after he struggled mightily at the plate during the 2021 season. Thus far, he’s returned to form and is looking more and more like the Jeff McNeil fans have come to know and adore. Over the first 20 games of the season, McNeil has five doubles, a triple, and a home run, while also driving in nine runs.

McNeil has drawn five walks while striking out just seven times and has posted a slash line of .328/.365/.460. Early on his line drive rate has returned to his 2019-20 form after he saw it decrease significantly last season.

McNeil has been the guy for the Mets in big spots, starting rallies and coming up with big hits with runners in scoring position. That was on full display in Friday night’s win over the Phillies, as he cracked a two-run single to give the Mets the lead. 

Prior to his hitless performance last night, McNeil was riding a six-game hitting streak. Over that span, he posted a 1.131 OPS and had four extra base hits. McNeil has been huge for the Mets’ offense, and he’ll look to keep the good times rolling against Zach Eflin and the Phillies Sunday.

Pitcher of the Month: Tylor Megill

To start this off, a nod to the starting rotation as a whole should be given. Without Jacob deGrom and Taijuan Walker (until Saturday), the unit has been spectacular over the first month of the season. After Walker’s five shutout innings in Saturday night’s loss, Mets starting pitchers have posted a combined 2.44 ERA through 24 games. Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt have been as advertised, Carlos Carrasco bounced back start has been encouraging, and David Peterson stepped up in Walker’s absence.

However, perhaps the brightest spot of them all, Tylor Megill has built off his strong rookie campaign. Heading into camp, Megill wasn’t even expected to make the big league roster. Fast forward to the end of the month, and he’s leading the way alongside Scherzer and Bassitt atop the Mets’ rotation.

Through five starts, Megill is still a perfect 4-0 while posting a 1.43 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. He has also struck out 27 batters over 28 innings pitched. Perhaps his most impressive outing was when he struggled against the Giants on April 24th.

The San Francisco offense was doing what they do best, finding holes and singling him to death. They put together four runs over the first three innings, but then Megill settled in and gutted his away to the sixth. He ended up taking the no-decision and the Mets won in extras.

As we saw last season, Megill has been cool, calm, and collected on the mound no matter what the situation is. Given his play thus far, he has certainly secured his spot in the starting rotation for the remainder of the season.