Tylor Megill handed the start for Mets' season opener

WASHINGTON — When it became official during a quick conversation with manager Buck Showalter and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner on the outfield grass at Nationals Park, Tylor Megill on Wednesday became the answer to a great trivia question (weather pending): In 2022, when the Mets had Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, who started on Opening Day?

The Mets will give the ball to Megill for their first game of the season, 7:05 p.m. Thursday against the Nationals. He is a 26-year-old righthander who has spent less than a year in the majors — and has never experienced an Opening Day at the highest level — and entered spring training with virtually no chance of making the team unless there were injuries.

Naturally, there were injuries. Megill will fill in for deGrom, who is out indefinitely with a right shoulder blade stress reaction. Scherzer’s tight right hamstring meant he isn’t an option to pitch until Friday at the earliest.

“I'm excited. It's going to be fun,” the 6-7, 230-pound Megill said with a smile, which on his normally stonefaced scale qualified as downright jubilance. “I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go, yeah.”

Hefner said: “His mound presence speaks to Buck, to be able to handle this type of situation. I know it’s just another game, right? It’s one of 162. But the pageantry that comes with Opening Day and all those types of things, you’re starting the season. It’s special. I’m glad that he gets to experience that.”

Rain is forecast for much of the day, causing the Nationals to push first pitch back three hours. If the game happens, Megill said he should be able to throw about 85 pitches. He tossed five innings in a morning practice-field scrimmage in Port St. Lucie, Florida — not quite the same atmosphere as a packed major-league stadium for the season opener — on March 31, his final outing of spring training.

When deGrom’s injury created an opening and the Mets decided they did not want to throw off the other starters’ schedules for the sake of one game, they had two options: Megill or lefthander David Peterson. Both had been penciled in for the Triple-A Syracuse rotation.

As Peterson struggled in his sophomore season in 2021, then missed the final three months with a strained oblique and broken foot, Megill worked his away ahead of him on the organizational depth chart.

He posted a 4.52 ERA (inflated when he petered out near the end) in 18 starts and impressed Hefner with his demeanor and a changeup that he simply hadn’t thrown much in the minors. It was particularly good against righthanded hitters. Megill also throws a fastball that averages 95 mph and a slider (and a cutter he toyed with during camp).

“Slow heartbeat guy — in a good way. He can handle situations,” Hefner said. “That [changeup] was a pitch for him. We saw that in his debut, he had a couple big punchouts on that. He’s only continued to gain confidence. And then the slider, he has it whenever he wants. And the fastball gets on guys. He's a big guy — plus extension, plus velocity. And then demeanor, that I already talked about.

“You wrap all that into one, and you got a major-league starter.”

Because of the short-notice assignment, Megill said, his family will watch from home instead of in person. Maybe it helps with the just-another-game approach, which seems more difficult to pull off considering the long pregame introductions, amped  nighttime crowd and maybe a gigantic American flag unfurled for the national anthem.

Megill said he will allow himself a moment to take it all in “at the end of the day.”

“But from the time I step on the field, it's go time,” he said. “Just get ready for the game.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.