Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

After taking on a larger than expected role in 2021, Tylor Megill made his final start of the season on Friday night when he faced Huascar Ynoa and the Atlanta Braves. Megill has not fared well in his last two starts, allowing ten earned runs in just seven innings pitched. Facing the Braves for the fourth time this season and the first time since July 28, Megill looked to finish the season on a high note against a team he has had success against this year.

Megill got his night started with three straight fastballs by Joc Pederson for his first strikeout of the night. He followed with strikeouts of Ehire Adrianza and Ozzie Albies to strike out the side in order. All three batters struck out swinging on high fastballs.

The second inning started with a continuation of the first when Austin Riley struck out swinging at a high fastball. Megill fell behind Eddie Rosario 3-0 in the count, but he got him to pop up the 3-0 fastball to Francisco Lindor at shortstop. Orlando Arcia grounded out to third base to finish Megill’s second consecutive 1-2-3 inning.

For the third straight inning, Megill struck out the first batter when he got Guillermo Heredia to chase an inside slider, but he allowed his first baserunner of the night when he walked William Contreras on a 3-2 pitch. Megill appeared to have lost the strike zone when he fell behind Ynoa 3-0, but worked his way back and retired him on a pop up to Pete Alonso at first. Peterson grounded out to José Peraza shifted over in the shortstop’s position to retire the side.

Working with a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, Megill retired Adrianza on a groundout to first base to begin the inning before Albies singled up the middle for the Braves first hit of the night. After Albies stole second, Megill struck out Riley with a perfect low and away change-up on the corner followed by a diving stop by Alonso to take a hit away from Rosario to keep the Braves scoreless.

Megill made quick work of the Braves again in the fifth inning. Arcia led off the inning with a groundout to Javier Báez before Heredia and Contreras grounded out to Lindor for another one-two-three inning to finish the night for Megill.

Megill’s final line: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.

As Gary Cohen said on SNY, Megill was tremendous in his final start of the season recording his fourth win of the year. Luis Rojas said before the game that he wanted to see Megill attack the strike zone, and that is exactly what he did. He was locating his fastball at the top of and above the zone while having success with both his change-up and slider. Megill finished his rookie campaign with a 4.52 ERA over 89 2/3 innings.

“That’s the best fastball I’ve seen him throw,” Rojas said. “That’s how you finish.”

Despite struggling coming into this start, Megill’s 2021 season was nothing short of exceptional considering what was expected from him coming into the year. His 130 innings pitched this season including his minor league innings was by far a career high, with the previous high being just 71 2/3 innings. Even with the heavy workload, Megill was able to give the Mets opportunities to win games with strong starts despite not being expected to be a part of the Major League team coming into 2021.

There are two key takeaways the Mets can get from Megill’s 2021 season. The first takeaway is you can never have too much pitching. The Mets attempted give themselves options when they acquired Joey Lucchesi and Jordan Yamamoto last winter. Unfortunately for the Mets, the overwhelming amount of injuries to the starting rotation forced them to go deeper into their stockpile of arms than anyone could have ever imagined to find guys who can fill those rotation spots.

Fortunately for the Mets, the second takeaway is that Megill can be more than just an insurance policy for the rotation. Despite some up and down stretches as his inning totals climbed, Megill has proven that he has the upside to be an effective Major League starting pitcher. He proved he has the ability with dominant starts against top tier teams like the Giants, Braves, Yankees, Blue Jays and Brewers over the course of his 18 starts. Like Taijuan Walker, it is fair to wonder if the increase in innings pitched was a factor in his inconsistent finish to the season, but Megill was able to mix in quality outings down the stretch despite being way over his career high in innings pitched.

Megill has room to improve if he wants build on his promising rookie season, but it is clear the Megill has the potential to be a reliable starter for this team going forward. No matter what role Megill is in when 2022 comes around, he will be an important part of the organization with the potential to play a big role in the team turning the corner and competing for a postseason spot for the first time since 2016.