Tylor Megill and Edwin Díaz both made encouraging starts on Tuesday
The Mets edged the Yankees 5-4 at Clover Park thanks in part to Tylor Megill's strong appearance
What’s up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets inched by the Yankees 5-4 at Clover Park on Tuesday (Box)
The Mets put up a five-spot in the third thanks in part to a two-run double from Francisco Lindor and an RBI single from Brett Baty
Tylor Megill started for the Mets and gave the Mets a very strong start, striking out six while allowing no runs over three innings
Sean Reid-Foley struck out the side in the sixth inning
Injury Updates 🏥
Edwin Díaz (recovery from 2023 knee surgery) declared himself 100 percent ready to go on Tuesday after his start in an intrasquad game
Jeff McNeil (biceps soreness) is expected to start swinging a bat again in the next few days
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (5-5) vs. Astros (4-4)
Where: Ballpark of the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, Florida
Starters: LHP José Quintana (0-1, 10.80 ERA) vs. LHP Framber Valdez (0-0, 20.25 ERA)
When: 1:05 PM EST
Where To Watch: MLB.tv
Notes: Tylor Megill’s impressive start, Edwin Diaz’s impressive “start” ✍️
Over 7600 packed Clover Park for the Mets and Yankees on Tuesday, but let’s just say the game lacked the traditional buzz and excitement a typical subway series game comes with. Still, its the Mets and the Yankees and you know that even if it was merely an early Grapefruit League game, you were silently rooting for the Mets to beat the Yankees yesterday.
After one of the Yankee hitters struck out against Tylor Megill, I could see a Yankee fan sitting behind home plate nodding in absolute disgust.
Save your energy for April, my friend. Just enjoy the Florida sun, and the no-stakes baseball between our two New York teams for a few hours.
Anyway, my job here is to talk about this meaningless game, which of course isn’t meaningless except for the actual outcome of the game itself. It was a big day for Tylor Megill and perhaps an even bigger day for Edwin Díaz, the latter of which didn’t even appear in this game.
Megill and the off-speed
There were a lot of positives to takeaway from Megill’s start yesterday. The box score would indicate dominance, but it was more impressive than it was dominant.
His fastball was good but I would say in its typical inconsistent form. He always seems to struggle to maintain consistent fastball velocity. Yeah, he will throw it 94-96 mph but then he comes in with a cookie at 91-92 mph. It’s clear he’s cognizant of that inconsistency when he’s out there - you can see it on his face at times when he comes in with a lesser competitive fastball.
But I think that’s where his off-speed comes into play, especially since he’s added this splitter to compliment his change-up and breaking pitch. He leaned on his cutter primarily yesterday and got three swings and misses out of the 12 he threw. That helped him setup the splitter, from which he induced three swings and misses out of the five he threw.
The Mets feel as though Megill’s new splitter can be elite, and I think we all saw the makings of an elite pitch in the limited number he threw on Tuesday against the Yankees. Of course, he won’t every have a 100 percent swing-and-miss rate on the pitch but if he can induce weak pull side contact and get those swings and misses sprinkled in there, that would serve as the out pitch Megill has been searching for. And, if he can maintain the shape and spin of the splitter end-to-end in his starts, it will help off-set the inconsistency of his fastball velocity, something he has yet to truly overcome.
All-in-all, that was perhaps the most encouraging start for Megill in a long time. He’s getting to a “shit or get off the pot” moment in his Mets career, especially with the Mets having other depth options to consider now, so the timing of the arrival of his splitter couldn’t be any better for him.
Edwin Díaz and those trumpets!
Edwin Díaz could not be seen during the Mets/Yankees game at Clover Park on Tuesday but his presence was definitely felt.
He started an intrasquad game for the Mets on the backfields and apparently, according to people on the grounds, Narco was heard over the speaker system out there as he was entering.
The sound might’ve been distant, but it’s clearly getting closer for the Mets and Díaz over a big league speaker system.
Díaz reportedly threw 14 pitches and retired Luke Voit, Rhylan Thomas and Jett Williams in order.
Díaz said afterwards he is 100 percent ready to go, although he will throw in another intrasquad game later this week before making his Grapefruit League debut next week.
His fastball velocity, according to reports, was 96-98 mph. He has confirmed his ability to field his position as well, so it would seem all is a go for Díaz, their obvious lynchpin in the bullpen in 2024.
As a fan, I am still not over what happened to Díaz just about a year ago during the World Baseball Classic. It started the derailment to the Mets season before it had even started, and the whole thing remains utterly ridiculous to me. I mean, what are you going to do - the guy got hurt and that was it. But that doesn’t make it any less maddening.
I’m glad he’s back. He makes the Mets better, he’s fun and entertaining to watch and quite frankly, he’s had a feel good Mets career after a rocky start to his tenure here.
Around the League 🚩
OF Michael A. Taylor - who is still a free agent - feels his market compares to that of Harrison Bader and Kevin Kiermaier (Athletic)
RHP Michael Lorenzen is still looking for a two-year deal even with opening day just over three weeks away (Athletic)
Cardinals RHP Sonny Gray has a hamstring strain and could miss his opening day start (Post Dispatch)
Red Sox RHP Lucas Giolito has a torn UCL and flexor tendon, and could miss the entire 2024 season as a result
The A’s released renderings of their proposed ballpark in Las Vegas (A’s Twitter account)