PORT ST. LUCIE — Tobias Myers wasn’t the headliner of the trade that brought him to the Mets, and he isn’t exactly a headliner in spring training, but the right-hander is set to play a valuable role for the club in 2026 as a starter/long reliever.
It’s a pitching element the Mets have been missing since 2022 when they had right-hander Trevor Williams in a similar role.
“We had seven closers last year, and it was hard, especially when we weren’t getting length out of our starting pitching,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Saturday at Clover Park. “So having guys like that is always important.”
The bullpen was stacked with high-leverage arms last season, but there were only a few pitchers who could reliably give the Mets significant length when they needed it.
Max Kranick and Dedniel Nuñez both went down with elbow injuries that required Tommy John surgery. Jose Butto was traded to the San Francisco Giants at the deadline for another high-leverage reliever, Tyler Rogers. Reed Garrett was pushed to his limits and became less effective in multi-inning outings. His elbow was nearly in tatters by the summer, with the right-handed journeyman needing significant time to warm up and days to recover.
Brandon Waddell, Justin Hagenman, Chris Devenski and others went back and forth between the Major League team and Triple-A with the Mets desperately needing fresh arms who could give them length.
The desperation for length was necessitated by a starting rotation that only pitched 796 innings, the fourth-fewest in baseball. The rotation averaged fewer than five innings per start.
Myers, who was acquired in the trade for Freddy Peralta in January, came up as a starter in the minor leagues, playing for seven different organizations after the Baltimore Orioles drafted the Winter Haven, Fla., native out of high school in 2016.
However, Myers typically made a few relief appearances every year. Last year, only six of his 22 appearances were starts. The Brewers, MLB’s best regular-season team, used him in a variety of situations and in high- and low-leverage innings. The versatility proved valuable, and he had the right makeup to be able to handle the unpredictability of a swingman role.
“I’m comfortable on the mound, so I feel like if you’re starting a game, if you’re relieving, if you’re closing, you’ve still got to get three outs or whatever the case may be,” he said. “So for me, I just try to keep it that mentality and keep everything simple.”
In 2022, Williams made 30 appearances for the Mets, nine starts and 21 relief appearances, going 3-5 with a 3.21 ERA and one save. There was a six-inning relief appearance and several more multi-inning appearances out of the bullpen. They kept him stretched out in case they needed him to start at a moment’s notice, which proved to be more valuable than anticipated during a 101-win season.
The Mets opted not to re-sign him for the 2023 season. It didn’t take long before the injuries to the rotation piled up and the pitchers who were healthy weren’t especially effective. The Mets didn’t realize how much they missed him until he was gone.
With Myers, they’ll stretch him out to 65 pitches this spring before “reevaluating” his workload. The club has already said that as long he’s healthy, he’s on the team for Opening Day. In Saturday’s Grapefruit League game against the Washington Nationals, Myers threw 46 pitches, allowing one earned run on two hits, walking one and striking out four over three innings.
With the Mets, he’s been able to refine his splitter by spiking his grip.
“We’re just kind of looking for a little bit more depth to get some more swings and misses,” Myers said. “That’s coming along pretty well. It’s been only two weeks on it, so it’s been pretty decent.”
The splitter was added in the middle of last season. It won’t replace his changeup, but it looks more like his fastball coming out of his hand than the circle-change when thrown right.
“That’s kind of where the split came from,” Myers said. “Then it just happened. The metrics are slightly better than the changeup used to be.”
The attention might be on Peralta right now, but if Myers can impact the Mets in the way they believe he can, he’ll be getting plenty of credit as well.
EXTRA BAGS
The Nats took Saturday’s game 3-2. Mark Vientos went 1-for-3 with an RBI double, and Nick Morabito, an outfield prospect, hit an RBI double off former Mets left-hander Richard Lovelady. … Brett Baty played first base for the first time in a Grapefruit League game, allowing him an opportunity to see in-game situations that aren’t easily replicated in practice. As a career third baseman who learned second base in 2024, he had to ignore some of the instincts to make plays and instead understand that he has to get back to first base and can rely on other infielders for help. “I felt like I wanted to go get the ball, because that’s just how I’ve always been at third base — go get the ball,” he said. “I had to remember [second baseman Marcus Semien] is right behind me, so I need to get my butt to first base… It was a fun challenge out there. No mistakes, but it didn’t look pretty either.” Baty will get reps in right and left field this spring as well as he transitions to a super utility role.
UP NEXT
Right-hander Clay Holmes will make one final start Sunday before departing to join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic. The Mets host the Houston Astros at 1:10 p.m., at Clover Park.
