2022 Mets Draft profile: Tyler Stuart

Tyler Stuart was a three-sport star at Herscher High School in Illinois. On the baseball diamond, he was an ace pitcher and slugger. On the gridiron, he was an excellent receiver. On the hardwood, he was a force to be reckoned with. He posted a 1.06 ERA with 117 strikeouts and hit .466 with 6 home runs in his senior season but went undrafted in the 2018 MLB Draft and went on to attend the University of Southern Mississippi.

Stuart redshirted in 2019, and then redshirted again in 2020 after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. He was finally able to return to the mound in 2021 but was up-and-down and ineffective. Appearing in 13 games in relief, the big right-hander posted a 7.16 ERA in 16.1 innings, allowing 16 hits, walking 7, and striking out 9. That summer, he played for the Bourn Braves of the Cape Cod League, and it was there that everything seemed to click in place for Stuart. Appearing in 4 games and logging 6.0 innings, he did not allow a run, scattering 4 hits, walking 4, and striking out 6. More importantly than the surface stats, he felt good before, during, and after his appearances and his fastball returned to its velocity prior to Tommy John. This past season, his redshirt sophomore season, head coach Scott Berry put his trust in Stuart and the right-hander responded. Starting 4 games and appearing in 22 total, the 22-year-old posted a 3.38 ERA in 40.0 innings, allowing 34 hits, walking 13, and striking out 38.

The 6’9”, 250-pound right-hander throws from a three-quarters arm slot with an arsenal that includes a four-seam fastball that sits 93-98 MPH, a sinker that sits in the mid-90s, a mid-80s changeup and a low-80s slider. Tall pitchers often have trouble keeping their mechanics in sync and Stuart is no exception. His control suffers as a result and his pitches are not as effective as they could potentially be. The sinker is his bread-and-butter pitch, generating a high amount of ground balls but it is not a bat-misser. Indeed, this is the biggest knock on Stuart; nothing in his arsenal is a true bat-misser at present. His slider flashes depth, and may eventually become a strikeout pitch, but needs more consistency. His fringy changeup may one day as well, but that pitch is even further behind in its development. Stuart is better working glove-side than arm-side, and as a result, is more comfortable with his sinker and slider rather than his changeup.