Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

With Mets’ starter Jose Quintana potentially missing a significant part of the season with a rib fracture, the Mets will need the likes of David Peterson and Tylor Megill to step up as depth in the rotation.

Megill, making his third outing of the spring, tossed four scoreless innings in the Mets’ 9-3 win over the Marlins in Jupiter on Monday afternoon. Megill allowed three hits and a walk while striking out three. He tossed 58 pitches with 38 of them coming for strikes.

Megill averaged just 93.5 mph on his fastball during the outing –down from 95.7 mph last season– but he’s not worried and it’s actually part of his plan going forward after having conversations with three-time Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer.

“The way he pitches, he saves some in the gas tank when he needs it and he’s able to stretch it out and go the distance,” Megill said.

Megill talked about how in 2022 he was throwing in the upper 90s early in his starts and then the velocity with diminish late in the game and it showed in his results. This season, Megill is going to make sure he “saves some bullets” for later in the game and for key spots throughout his starts.

Megill also noted that he believed ramping up his velocity so much in 2022 –his average fastball was up 1.1 mph from 2021– could have played a role in him missing time with a shoulder strain. The 24-year-old is focused on being healthy and effective following a season that he was the Mets Opening Day starter and started their combined no-hitter, but ultimately finished the season with a 5.13 ERA in only 47 1/3 innings.

The right-hander talked about using his curveball more with an influence from Scherzer and he threw the pitch five times (9%) on Monday after using it only 2.8% of the time last year. He averaged 63 inches of vertical break on his curveball in the outing, that’s up from 53 inches in 2022.

“I’ve been working on my curveball this whole offseason and I think it’s really going to help the top of the zone for me,” Megill said.

Scherzer said that he talked to Megill about making sure he left bullets in the tank because your most important pitches come in the sixth or seventh inning, not the first inning.

The veteran Scherzer pitched parts of five innings against Marlins’ Triple-A hitters in the back fields on Monday so that Megill could face the Miami big league hitters. Scherzer allowed a three-run homer in the first inning and gave up five runs (three earned) on around 80 pitches.

“Talking to Scherzer, he’s had a very healthy and very long career, that’s because he saves some in the gas tank when he needs it and he’s able to stretch it out and go the distance. That’s what I’m trying to do by saving my bullets and staying fresh longer.”