Getting to know Mets pitcher Tylor Megill

With their pitching ranks depleted by injuries in the midst of a stretch that includes three doubleheaders in less than a week, the Mets are turning to 25-year-old Tylor Megill to start for them tonight in their series finale against the Braves.

Megill started the season in Double-A Binghamton, where he had a 3.12 ERA in five starts with 14.5 strikeouts and 2.4 walks per nine in 26.0 innings of work. With that, he was promoted to Triple-A Syarcuse, and in three starts at that level, he has a 3.77 ERA with 10.7 strikeouts and 3.1 walks per nine in 14.1 innings of work.

Coming into the season, Megill did not make our list of the Mets’ top 25 prospects, but he was on the list of other minor league players of note. And Steve Sypa, who saw Megill earlier this year in Binghamton, wrote this about him when writing him up as the Mets’ minor league pitcher of the week last month:

A graduate of Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, California, Tylor Megill initially intended on attending the University of San Diego the following fall, but he changed schools and eventually settled on Loyola Marymount University, where his older brother, Trevor, attended and pitched. In his freshman year in 2015, Tylor pitched as both a starter and a reliever and posted a cumulative 3.95 ERA in 57.0 innings, allowing 53 hits, walking 23, and striking out 41. His brother was drafted by San Diego at the conclusion of the season, and his departure prompted Tylor to depart Loyola Marymount as well. Transferring to Cypress College, a community college in nearby Cypress, for the 2016 season, Megill posted a 3.72 ERA in 101.2 innings, allowing 119 hits, walking 29, and striking out 87, pitching as both a starter and a reliever with the Chargers. He left Cypress in the summer of 2016 and transferred to the University of Arizona, where he once again pitched as needed. Appearing in 3 games as a starter and 19 as a reliever for coach Jay Johnson, Megill posted a 5.55 ERA in 35.2 innings, allowing 46 hits, walking 17, and striking out 36. Using his final summer as an amateur to improve himself, the right-hander lost roughly 15 pounds and worked on the mental aspect of the game- staying in the moment and bouncing back after running into adversity. While the results during his senior season in 2018 were not necessarily night-and-day, the improvements were tangible and in 32.2 innings, Megill posted a 4.68 ERA, allowing 38 hits, walking 14, and striking out 38.

With their eighth selection in the 2018 draft, the Mets selected Megill and the two sides agreed to a $50,000 signing bonus, $126,700 under the MLB assigned slot value of $176,700. He was assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones for the remainder of the 2018 season and posted a 3.21 ERA in 28.0 innings in Coney Island, allowing 18 hits, walking 14, and striking out 26. He began the 2019 season with the Columbia Fireflies, but was promoted to the St. Lucie Mets in late July and got into a token game with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies at the end of August. Pitching primarily as a reliever in Columbia but a starter in St. Lucie and Binghamton, Megill combined to post a 3.52 ERA in 71.2 innings, allowing 64 hits, walking 25, and striking out 92.

Standing 6’7” and weighing 230 pounds, Megill has a sturdy, durable pitching frame. He throws from a high three-quarters arm slot with a long arm stab through the back. He throws across his body with some crossfire, giving his pitches additional run and angle but often negatively impacting his command. While his delivery is simple, consisting of a leg lift, proportionate stride, and controlled follow through, Megill is a taller pitcher and such pitchers historically have struggled with being able to command their pitches.

The right-hander’s fastball sits in the low-90s, generally sitting 92-94 MPH and topping out at 95, 96 MPH. During Fall Instructs, the fastball supposedly topped out at 98 MPH, but I cannot confirm the number. Thanks to his natural spin rate, the pitch has late life and thanks to the angle he throws from, the pitch gets heavy tailing action.

His primary breaking ball is a slider that sits in the mid-80s that features tight spin and late break. In addition to his slider, he also throws a changeup and a curveball, but neither pitch is thrown with the regularity that his slider is. His changeup, which sits in the mid-80s, is a fringe-average pitch at best, but is mainly used as a left-handed hitters. The curveball, which he threw in high school and has since re-added to his pitching repertoire since the end of the 2019 season, is fringe-average as well. The pitch sits in the high-70s and features softer, loopier break as compared to his slider.