Meet this Met: Ex-Wildcat Tylor Megill made an impact following unlikely call-up to big leagues

Tylor Megill didn’t expect to get called up to the big leagues just three years after getting drafted. But as soon as he got the call, he took full advantage of the opportunity.

The former Arizona Wildcats pitcher was called up by the Mets on June 23 to make his major-league debut. Pitching against the Braves, Megill allowed two runs on three hits over 4⅓ innings. He struck out four and walked two while throwing 92 pitches in a no-decision.

It was a day filled with nervous excitement.

“You have grown up your whole life working towards one goal, and that was to get to the major leagues,” Megill said. “And then you’re in there and now you’re playing against the best of the best. Another crazy thing was that you grew up watching players or you’re in high school and you’re in college and you’re watching these players play and next thing you know, you’re standing 60 feet, 6 inches across from them and you’re playing against them.”

Over 18 big-league starts, Megill went 4-6 with a 4.52 ERA and 99 strikeouts against 27 walks for a Mets club that was rocked by injuries to its starting pitchers.

His season had storybook start and a rough ending. The right-hander posted a 2.05 ERA with 39 strikeouts across 35⅓ innings through his first seven starts. Over the final two months, however, he posted a 6.78 ERA while giving up 15 home runs.

“If someone were to tell me I was going to throw 18 starts this year, I would tell them they were out of their mind,” Megill said. “My main goal was to make the big leagues in the September call-ups. So many people unfortunately got injured, and it’s … next man up.

“In a way I was surprised (to get called up), but at the same time, it was bound to happen to someone — and that someone just happened to me, and I got my name called.”

His season came with major highlights.

The 6-foot-7-inch Megill pitched against Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman and Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, two players he looked up to. And he hit, posting a .214 batting average and whacking three doubles for the National League team. Megill’s first career hit, a single to right field off Blue Jays starter Steven Matz, was “pretty cool,” he said.

“I had not hit since like my freshman year of high school, so I hadn’t swung a bat,” Megill said. “When I got a hit, that was exciting.”

Megill acknowledged how difficult it is to hit major league pitching.

“It is fun to hit, but being able to hit as a pitcher and seeing some of these pitchers and their stuff, I can see why hitting is really hard — because it is,” he said.

So is making the big leagues.

From California to Tucson

Megill pitched for Arizona Wildcats in 2017 and 2018 after transferring from Cypress College in California.

He had been on Jay Johnson’s radar for years. Johnson was an assistant coach at the University of San Diego when he first noticed Megill, then a standout at Los Alamitos High School.

Johnson left USD to become the head coach at Nevada, then took the head coaching job at Arizona. Megill enrolled at Loyola Marymount, then transferred to Cypress.

It wasn’t long before the two reconnected.

“During his sophomore year at Cypress, we were looking for an impact pitcher and he was obviously plenty talented,” Johnson said. “We worked pretty hard and fast to get him to Arizona and we were happy to get him.”

Johnson, now the head coach at LSU, noted the improvements he saw in Megill’s game during their time together in Tucson. Megill worked mostly out of Arizona’s bullpen in 2017, going 2-3 with a 5.55 ERA. A year later, Megill lowered his ERA to 4.79. His strikeout numbers — more than one per inning pitched — were excellent both years.

“He became more comfortable with who he was as a pitcher,” Johnson said. “The physical talent was there and you could see once he put high-level game experience behind him, he was going to continue to improve. And that’s what he did.”

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Finding what works

The Mets drafted Megill with their eighth-round pick in 2018.

He began his professional career with the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets’ High-A affiliate, and posted a 3.21 ERA over 28 relief innings. Like a lot of first-time pros, Megill struggled to find his way through the game he grew up loving.

“It is a steady surge of finding what works for you and how you’re going to have success,” Megill said. “Just using all of your resources, friends, coaches and just trying to figure out how to get better each and every day.”

In 2019, Megill made some specific changes to his pitching style. He started throwing a four-seam fastball instead of a two-seamer, which he said “really ran into some barrels — especially for left-handers, at least.”

He also straightened out his arm path.

“I used to be a crossfire pitcher, so a lot of my stuff had a tendency of sinking — which isn’t good,” he said.

Megill spent the 2019 campaign at Low-A, High-A and Double-A, posting a combined 3.52 ERA with 92 strikeouts over 71⅓ innings pitched.

The 2020 minor-league season was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Megill still found a way to get his work in.

“I got together with a bunch of my friends and we went out to a field,” he said. “We set up our own little simulated games, throwing live (at-bats) … I tried to collect as many innings as I could, which was only 40-50 innings compared to what would usually be 100+ innings in a season. I could only do as much as I can with the time that I had.”

Megill began the 2021 season back in Double-A Binghamton. He was summoned to Triple-A on June 1; just a few weeks later, he got the call that would change his life forever.

“I was in Syracuse, New York, with my buddy just hanging out in the living room,” Megill said. “I got the call and that was it.”

Brothers in the bigs

Through all of this minor-league movement, Megill leaned on one person who knew the struggle better than most. His older brother, Trevor, was a seventh-round pick of the Padres in 2015 who moved to the Cubs organization in 2019 as part of the Rule 5 draft.

Trevor Megill told his younger brother that he belonged in pro ball.

“Just be confident in my stuff knowing that I’ve been drafted because they see potential in me to be a big leaguer,” Tylor Megill said.

On April 22, Trevor Megill’s own minor-league path led to a big-league call-up. He threw one inning of scoreless relief in the Cubs’ 8-7 loss to Atlanta.

Two months and one day later, Tylor Megill made his major-league debut against the same Braves team.

Looking ahead

Megill said teammates Marcus Stroman and James McCann acted like big brothers to him during his rookie season with the Mets, teaching him about what’s needed to stick in the big leagues.

“They were always giving me words of words of encouragement and talking me through things when things happened,” Megill said. “Just teaching me along the way.”

Through the ups-and-downs of his rookie year, Megill got valuable experience on the mound. He hopes he can stick with the Mets next season. Stroman is gone, having signed with the Cubs, but New York has added ace Max Scherzer to a rotation that also includes star righty Jacob de Grom.

Megill knows what he must work on to join them next year.

“Still trying to perfect the consistency of all four of my pitches and throwing them all for strikes with good action and break,” Megill said. “Really going to try to perfect my curveball this offseason and try to pick up some velo.”