Tylor Megill, Mets offense flops in loss to the Yankees
Tylor Megill's season has taken a wrong turn while the offense has hit an icy path
What’s up with the Mets? 🚊
The Mets took a sleepy 6-2 loss to the Yankees in the Bronx on Friday night (box | highlights)
Tylor Megill started for the Mets and delivered an ineffective outing - he walked five, allowed four hits and four runs over just 2.2 IP - it was his shortest start since 6/21/23 at Houston (2.1IP)
Max Kranick allowed the other two runs to come across in relief of Megill over 2.1 IP
The Mets scattered just five hits and two runs against Carlos Rodón and four innings from the Yankee bullpen despite three walks from Juan Soto in his return to Yankee Stadium and six overall - the Mets struck out 11 times on the night and went 2-for-11 with RISP
Stats of the Day 📊
The Mets are now 66-81 vs. the Yankees all-time in the regular season and 19-24 at the current Yankee Stadium
Who’s Hot? 🔥
Brandon Nimmo now has a eight-game hitting streak - he’s hitting .333/.375/.567 (10-for-30) with 3R, 4 doubles, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB and 1 SB during that span
Mark Vientos now has a six-game hitting streak - he is 9-for-23 with 3 R, 1 double, 1 HR and 2 RBI during the streak
Juan Soto has reached base in 38 of his 44 games this season, reaching base multiple times in 27 of those games. He is hitting .275/.404/.495 with five doubles, five home runs, 13 RBI, 25 hits, 21 walks and 18 runs scored in his last 25 games
Who’s Cold? ❄️
The Mets are hitting .176/.279/.253 with just 16 hits (5 XBH) and four runs scored in their last three games
Tylor Megill has a 7.23 ERA in his last four starts - the Mets have lost all four of those games. He has allowed 18 hits, 11 walks and three home runs in 18.2 IP during that span
Play of the Game 🌟
In the first inning with one on and one out, Pete Alonso hit a line drive in between Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza, but Peraza made a leaping catch to his left to rob Alonso of an RBI single, setting the tone for the remainder of the night for the Mets:
Down on the Farm 🌾
C Hayden Senger (Triple-A): 2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI
INF Jett Williams (no. 1 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 RBI
INF Ryan Clifford (no. 4 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI
LHP Jonathan Santucci (no. 12 prospect, High-A): 5 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 5 K
OF Simon Juan (Low-A): 2-for-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (28-17) vs. Yankees (26-18)
Where: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY
Starters: RHP Griffin Canning (5-1, 2.36 ERA) vs. RHP Clarke Schmidt (1-1, 4.73 ERA)
When: 1:05 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
The leash on Tylor Megill is getting shorter… ✍️
The Mets have been kind of listless over the last three of games.
They’ve scored just four runs and 16 hits in their last three games as the offense has had three generally lifeless performances in a row. That’s quite uncharacteristic for a lineup which has been explosive at times over the first quarter of the season. But, it happens - offense is an ebb and flow situation and they’re just generally slumping as a group at the moment which gives their pitching staff no margin for error.
They’ll come out of it. That’s not the part that concerns me.
The concerning part now is actually on the mound, especially with Tylor Megill who has had four generally non-competitive starts in a row for the Mets. Everyone was talking about how Megill had found himself and that this was a new Megill with a new approach and new mindset.
Maybe all of that was true and is still true but the results have harshly regressed into a version of Megill we are all too familiar with. High stress pitches, too many walks and consequential contact thanks to low quality strikes and on Friday night, the Yankees ate all of that up and knocked him out of the game in the third inning.
It’s a frustrating situation for Megill after he was so great over the first 4-5 weeks of the season. But that’s been Megill’s story during his career - hot starts followed by falling off a cliff.
The good news for the Mets is, they don’t have to stick with Megill, at least not over the long haul. Both Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas are progressing and Paul Blackburn is actually getting close to returning. So, they can replace Megill in the rotation if this ineffectiveness continues. My guess is, Megill will get at least one more shot to prove he should remain in the rotation before the Mets need to make a decision here, but it’s not looking good for Megill now as he looks more like the pitcher who needed to go to the minor leagues last year, and the year before, and the year before that than the pitcher they hoped he had become over the first month of the season.
That is of course unless the Mets are looking to go back to a six-man rotation. But even if they do, by the time they would, they might have Montas and/or Manaea back anyway which could leave both Blackburn and Megill on the outside looking in for a rotation spot in that scenario as well.
The amazing part about Megill’s situation is that he has elite movement on all of his pitches. The problem I see is his slider and sinker have been less effective and arguably sub-big league in quality, yet he throws those pitches the majority of the time. I am not a pitching coach, but perhaps it’s time to adjust the usage of those pitches, use them less and rely a little more on his fastball and curve, two pitches which at least have positive run values? Also - the three pitches he uses the most (fastball, slider, sinker) are all similar speed. To me, he should incorporate his change-up more if only as a “show me” pitch and create some imbalance in the strike zone.
His problem last year was he threw every pitch in the pitchers bible, ie way too much variety. He has done a good job cutting things off of his diner menu, but now it’s time to make a different kind of adjustment - he now has to refine the pitches he has an alter the usage.
Otherwise, he’s going to have to keep looking over his shoulder.
Around the League 🚩
Wilmer Flores hit three home runs and drove in eight runs, tying Aaron Judge for the most homers in MLB as the Giants routed the A’s 9-1
Joe Ryan struck out nine over six innings as the Twins beat the Brewers 3-0 for their 12th win in a row
Bryce Harper notched his 1000th RBI as the Phillies doubled up the Pirates 8-4 to pull back to within 1.5 games of the Mets for first place in the NL East
The Braves are back over .500 (23-22) thanks in part to Chris Sale and his eight strikeouts over seven innings in their 4-2 win over the Red Sox
Tylor was arguably let down by the gloves in two of the last three starts. But yesterday was just bad. He had no command of his secondary pitches at all.
Agreed on his pitch mix, though. He has the big fastball and a decent change. Use them. If he can get ahead of the count more by just pitching big and then mix in the slider and sinker as put-away pitches, he might be more effective.
But none of it matters if he can't throw strikes.
It will hurt you if you choose to go with a six-man rotation & have to fill in two of the people.
Megill did his job for over a month. That's a good run. Even then, he could only be trusted with five innings. He has yet to prove himself as a consistent starter.
He still has value as a spot starter and long guy. Blackburn isn't a grand replacement, but hopefully, he can give you some good innings.