With help from Max, Tylor is coming ’round with curve
JUPITER — Tylor Megill has gradually increased the use of his curveball over his first two big league seasons. He’s hoping to make it a full-fledged weapon in 2023.
Megill has primarily thrown a four-seam fastball, changeup and slider but started toying with the curveball more last season after receiving advice from Max Scherzer. The right-hander worked on the pitch over the winter with the hopes that it could be a viable option on two-strike counts.
Wednesday in Jupiter, facing the Miami Marlins in his first Grapefruit League start of the year, Megill mixed in the curveball and saw the potential for what it could be in the future.
“Threw a couple today for strikes and that was the biggest thing,” Megill said after the Mets’ 8-4 win over the Fish at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. “I’m excited to try and drop them in there and then use it as a two-strike pitch as well. If I can get that over the plate for strikes, and then with two strikes mix the variation of speed up, then go top-to-bottom zone-wise with my other pitches.”
Megill allowed one earned run on two hits, walked none and struck out none over two innings of work. The outs came mostly on the ground and he didn’t give up many hard-hit balls. The pitch could use some refinement and improvement but he knows when he wants to throw it and how beneficial it could be if he gets it where he wants it.
“Through development, it’s going to get better and better,” Megill said. “I think it’s a really good pitch right now. Over time, I’d like it to be a two-strike pitch and whatnot. There are flashes of it being like that. For the most part, it’s being able to throw it down the middle and be able to get a strike or be able to get a reaction, I’d say. That’s the main goal. It’s putting it in the back of their head that I have a curveball so they can second-guess the other pitches.”
The 27-year-old Megill has been a great success story for the Mets. A 6-7 former college closer, Megill become a rotation fixture three years after being drafted in the eighth round out of the University of Arizona. With Jacob deGrom and Carlos Carrasco injured for much of 2021, Megill went 4-6 and posted a 4.52 ERA in 18 starts as a rookie. Megill was the Mets’ Opening Day starter last season after late-spring injuries started to mount.
But he struggled with biceps tendinitis and a shoulder strain in his sophomore season, going 4-2 with a 5.13 ERA in nine starts and 18 appearances. By the end of the season, the Mets had a healthy rotation and Megill, pitched out of the bullpen to mixed results.
However, his walk rate decreased and his strikeout rate went up and a 3.77 FIP indicates that he was the recipient of some bad luck last season.
Megill is not currently projected to be in the Mets’ rotation this