Mets place starting pitcher on IL

The Mets announced Monday that they’ve placed righty Tylor Megill on the 15-day injured list after an MRI revealed a strain in his right shoulder. 

Megill exited his first start of the season after just four innings and 78 pitches. Right-hander Reed Garrett has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse in his place for the time being, though Garrett isn’t a rotation option. 

He’ll give the Mets a fresh arm in the bullpen for now, but they’ll likely make another move to bring up a starter once Megill’s spot in the rotation comes back up. 

The team has not yet announced the severity of Megill’s strain or a potential timetable for his return.

Megill, 28, moved into the rotation during spring training after Kodai Senga suffered a shoulder strain of his own. He’d been slated to be one of the team’s top depth options but opened the year in the starting five instead. 

Now, it seems that the assignment will only last one start. Megill had two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts against the Brewers before incurring the injury. 

It’s not the first time he’s battled shoulder injuries in his career; a shoulder strain sent Megill to the 60-day injured list as recently as 2022.

Megill made 27 starts with the Mets in 2021-22, and while he wasn’t slated to open the 2023 season in the rotation, injuries thrust him onto last year’s starting staff and led him to make a career-high 25 starts. 

In that time, Megill worked to a 4.70 ERA with an 18.5 percent strikeout rate and 10.5 percent walk rate. Those numbers roughly line up with his career marks. 

He’s pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, including his lone 2024 outing, and owns a 4.68 ERA, 22.3 percent strikeout rate, 8.7 percent walk rate and 42.7 percent ground-ball rate.

With Megill shelved, the Mets’ four healthy starters are Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser and Luis Severino. In-house options to step into the vacated spot include left-hander Joey Lucchesi and righty Jose Butto — the latter of whom was the final member of the spring rotation competition won by Megill. 

The Mets also have prospects Mike Vasil, Dominic Hamel and Christian Scott all on the cusp of MLB readiness, but none of that trio is on the 40-man roster. Both Lucchesi and Butto are.