In their current state, the New York Mets are searching for any signs of life. And while moral victories are an outlawed form of thinking in any Major League clubhouse, the Mets are desperate to find anyone or anything that can help contribute in any fashion come 2024.
Whether David Peterson or Tylor Megill is a part of those plans remains to be seen. Still, for now, the two starters who have so heavily underperformed this season, have a chance to make their case for why they should be in a rotation that includes Kodai Senga and José Quintana beyond this year.
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Megill took the mound on Monday after Peterson had his best outing on Sunday in a 3-2 walk-off win over the Angels. In turn, Megill also handed in his best start of the season in Monday’s 4-3 loss to the Texas Rangers. The right-hander produced a season-high eight strikeouts across six innings, allowing just one run on five hits. He also continued a positive trend, as a recent uptick in velocity has seemingly helped Megill round into form. During Monday’s outing, Megill topped out at 98.2 mph; an encouraging trend, to say the least.
After the game, Buck Showalter mentioned that Megill’s command was the difference in this particular outing.
“They had to honor a lot of pitches,” the Mets manager said. “They had to honor the slider. He dropped some curveballs in there…Really good hitting team, so that’s really impressive.”
The Mets have often times been at a loss for words as to why Megill, who came into the week with a 5.54 ERA, had struggled so badly in 2023. His presence as a depth piece was supposed to help soften the early season losses of Quintana and Justin Verlander. Instead, he only exacerbated the issue, as he took a ginormous step back from being a reliable option. After an injury-riddled 2022, Megill seemed finally healthy and ready to contribute. And while he was seemingly without any health issues, his contributions, or lack thereof, only further put a struggling Mets team behind the eight ball.
It would be a bit premature to say that Megill, who has been inconsistent at best, is starting to turn a corner. At the same time, Monday’s start was a step in the right direction, as the Mets continue to evaluate his prospects in the starting rotation and how he fits into the team’s plans. Standing at 60-72 entering Tuesday, New York doesn’t have very much to play for as it. There’s personal pride on the line, as well as the development of young players. There are also players like Megill, who are doing what they can to put a less-than-stellar first half beyond them and finish the season strong.
“It’s been a lot of positives,” Megill told reporters following Monday’s contest. “Obviously leading up to this, coming back and just pitching—a lot of positives [are] coming back.”
Megill finished the sixth inning strong, despite being tagged for two doubles and a softly hit single. After getting Nathaniel Lowe to ground into a double play, Megill gave up an RBI double to Adolis García. He roped a sharp line drive to right field with an exit velocity of 108.1 mph. Already giving up two hits with an exit velocity of over 100 mph, Megill toed the rubber and faced what ended up being his last batter of the game, Robbie Grossman. After painting the corner with a 1-1 changeup, Megill elected to elevate a 1-2 fastball and got the Rangers designated hitter swinging. It was his best pitch of the game and helped him maintain a quality start, as he finished off six strong innings with his eighth strikeout of the evening.
“It just seemed like all my stuff was on tonight,” he said. “I feel like over these last three, four starts, regardless of the results…I’m attacking the strike zone with the heater, which previously has been my go-to.”
His stuff was on Monday for sure. He competed well and gave the Mets a chance against a tough lineup. There were certainly some signs that Megill could build on from this start. And for New York’s sake, it has to hope that’s attainable, as Megill being a valuable contributor going forward would be one less thing for Steve Cohen and Co. to worry about this offseason.
