Mets starter Tylor Megill rides improved slider to dominant outing versus Astros

The New York Mets have seen several starting pitchers breaking out new designer pitches this spring, but none have had as dramatic of an impact as Megill's new slider.

New York Mets starting pitcher Tylor Megill (38) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

New York Mets starter Tylor Megill, attempting to help the team cover for the early season absences of starters Sean Manaea (oblique) and Frankie Montas (lat), rode a new and improved slider to a win last night against the Houston Astros.

Megill, 29, put up a career-low 4.04 ERA last season across 15 starts largely on the strength of his two fastballs. Throwing both a four-seam fastball and a sinker, Megill graded out in the 64th percentile with a +3 Run Value for fastballs on Statcast. Every other offering of his, however, was a below-average offering as graded by Run Value.

That is going to change this season.

Megill pitched five innings last night against the Astros, allowing just one run on three hits while walking one and striking out six. The sole run came on a sacrifice fly from designated hitter Yordan Alvarez in the 4th inning, scoring Jose Altuve.

5+ innings of one-run ball from Tylor Megill tonight 💪 pic.twitter.com/4V3SInecZe

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) March 29, 2025

Megill made some notable tweaks to his slider in this outing, which allowed the pitch to pick up five whiffs and four foul balls in nine swings from Houston hitters. By contrast, he got only four whiffs on fourteen swings against his four-seam fastball, and no whiffs in the ten swings against his sinker.

In 2024, Megill's slider featured both below-average drop and glove-side movement, resulting in a .233 batting average allowed and .302 slugging percentage on the pitch. While that feels acceptable, it was driven by a large amount of luck - the expected stats, per MLB's Statcast, were a .289 batting average allowed and a .373 slugging. The pitch's movements were especially pronounced in the second half of the 2024 season, with his slider getting just -1 inch of induced vertical break down the stretch last season, a well-below-average number.

Read More: New York Mets' 2025 season rests with rotation, for better or worse

In his first start of the year, Megill's slider has significantly improved. He cut one mile per hour of velocity, but that drop came with an additional six inches of induced vertical break, for a total of -7. This change pushes the slider firmly into "death ball" territory, a trendy designer pitch popularized by noted pitching lab Tread Athletics.

Tylor Megill, Dirty Sliders. 😨 pic.twitter.com/cEyhQ78Qcj

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 29, 2025

Similar to the 'kick-change' thrown by rotation-mate Clay Holmes, a pitch also designed by Tread Athletics, the 'death ball' is designed to get a pitcher significantly more vertical drop than a standard vertical-breaking slider while not dramatically sacrificing velocity. It combines the mid-80s velocity of a slider with the movement profile of a 12-6 curveball, allowing power pitchers like Megill to harness additional vertical movement that is typically only available from low-velocity curveballs in the mid-70s.

The addition of a 'death ball', being classified as a slider by Statcast, has allowed Megill to have a five-pitch arsenal that is all considered above-average by Stuff+. Of pitchers that threw on Friday, only Dylan Cease of the San Diego Padres had a better overall arsenal grade than Megill.

Daily tjStuff+ Leaders
2025-03-28
Min. 50 Pitches

1) Dylan Cease - 110
2) Jack Leiter - 109
3) Tylor Megill - 109 pic.twitter.com/J17IcLxm1p

— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) March 29, 2025

The slider was not the only pitch of Megill's to show improvement yesterday, however. His fastball was also coming in one mile per hour harder and showing some additional movement, being thrown from a two-inch higher release height. The additional downward angle to the plate, known as "vertical approach angle", helps the pitch disguise better with the death ball out of the hand, improving the performance of both.

Megill's additions have the possibility of dramatically impacting the Mets rotation. Already missing Luis Severino, who signed over the offseason with the Athletics, and currently without Manaea and Montas, the rotation is relying on early-season contributions from Megill, converted reliever Clay Holmes, and free-agent import Griffin Canning.

However, with workload concerns for the entire group, Megill being able to replicate his 2023 workload of 25 starts and 126.1 innings will go a long way to getting the Mets to October and setting them up for another deep postseason run.