Mets Reliever Returns With Improved Velocity, New Approach

When the New York Mets made the ill-fated Freddy Peralta trade, they gave up two prime prospects for the former Milwaukee Brewers starter in part because they were getting right-hander Tobias Myers in return. Myers had had success in Milwaukee, and the Mets were intrigued by his ability to perform almost every role in the bullpen. 

Until he couldn’t. Myers got off to a good start with the Mets, but his downfall in New York happened in a hurry, starting on May 6 when he gave up four runs in Colorado. He allowed runs in six of his ten appearances, and Myers was sent to the minors when the Mets hit a roster crunch at the end of June when their injured players began returning. 

“He just lost a little bit of the stuff,” said interim manager Any Green in a piece written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. 

That’s an understatement given how bad Myers was when he first returned in July. He allowed 17 runs over 12-2/3 innings as his velocity dropped, but yesterday Myers pitched a scoreless eighth inning to get the win as the New York Mets came from behind to beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-2. 

“Not an easy inning any time [Rafael] Devers is the middle of your inning,” Mets interim manager Andy Green said. “Had to go through the heart of their order and did a really nice job.”

The work Myers did to get back involved using water bags and weighted balls to increase his velocity, and he also changed his approach. He focused less on getting outs early in counts, but his pitching coach at Triple-A Syracuse, A.J. Sager, thinks it was more about needing a reset. 

“It’s unfortunately not that uncommon where some guys get a little bit lost, and that’s such a hard level to fix things,” said Sager. “You just feel that pressure to go out there and perform all the time. Sometimes, they come down here and it just allows them to take a breath. I think he was able to do that.” 

Myers got his velocity back up around 93 mph, per DiComo, which allowed him to command the top of the strike zone with confidence. His ERA dropped to 1.23 with 17 strikeouts and two walks over 14-2/3 innings, and he got back to just pitching. 

“The last couple of weeks, it’s definitely gotten back to just being free,” Myers said. “No thinking up there. Just pitch, and gradually I’ve gotten better and better.”