PORT STREET SEA — Tyler Megill has a new toy he hopes to show off when he starts facing batters in the Mets’ live batting practice in the coming days.
“It’s pretty good,” Megill said Friday.
The toy was a splitter, a pitch he learned from Kodai Senga last year, but he didn’t use it until he pitched the sixth inning in his final appearance of the season.
Megill entered the offseason determined to improve his pitches, and Mets officials said he was successful.
Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner even believes Megill’s splitter has the potential to rival Chiga’s “ghost fork” that confused MLB hitters last season.
Megill throws pitches that fall just before they reach the strike zone at 85-86 mph (slightly more difficult than Senga).
But the Japanese right-hander’s splitter is notable for its fragility.
The data on Megill’s splitter (which he dubbed the “American spoke” last year) that the Mets received over the winter suggests it could be in that realm as an elite pitcher.
“You could call it an ancient schism,” Hefner said. “I don’t know, but maybe so. Let’s see how the batters react to it.”
Megill, 28, entered spring training as a rotational player but knows he’ll likely get a chance.
He started last season in the same situation, starting 25 games for the Mets in place of an injured veteran.
However, Megill struggled early in the season and didn’t show any improvement until he returned from Triple-A Syracuse in August after the Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander trades.
Megill finished the season with a 4.70 ERA in 126¹/₃ innings for the Mets.
“I got into a pretty rough spot for quite a few starts and then I got demoted to Triple-A and basically had to rebuild my body, my mechanics and everything,” Megill said.
The key to whether his splitter plays is whether Megill can get ahead in the count. Hefner said Megill’s growth over the winter with his fastball and breaking ball gave him optimism about his splitter.
“The split is not a natural strike pitch,” Hefner said. “So you have to get an advantage count, and it’s not a pitch you’re going to throw 3-on-1. It’s not a pitch that’s going to be in the zone a high percentage of the time.
“It took a lot of time in the offseason to sort out his stuff and add splits. The thing I’m most proud of about Tyler is that he made every start last year. I would say some of them weren’t very good, but he was able to stay healthy all year long, which is really difficult. He goes into camp in a really good position. We are proud of him and couldn’t be more excited about his efforts thus far.”
Megill previously trained alone in the offseason, but this winter he trained at Push Performance in the Phoenix area, where he joined a group that included MLB pitchers Logan Webb, Stephen Okert and Kyle Harrison.
Hefner said the experience was beneficial to Megill because it created a level of competition.
Megill agrees with that assessment.
“It was fun to go there and communicate and fool around with other people,” Megill said. “I’ve had a great offseason. I’m very positive and very excited.”
Chiga, Luis Severino, Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea and Adrian Hauser made up the Mets’ starting five at the start of camp.
However, the Mets will combine Megill with Joey Lucchesi and Jose Butt, and will likely use a sixth starter at times.
“A lot of guys are hungry to go out and compete, and I want to be a part of that,” Megill said.
