2023 Mets midseason grades: Starting pitchers

Tylor Megill - 2023 Mets starting pitcher first half grade

1st Half Stats: 71.1 IP, 15 starts, 6-4, 5.17 ERA, 58 K, 39 BB, 80 ERA+, 1.668 WHIP

Megill has been hit hard all year long, but this year, his breaking stuff has been quite ineffective. Opponents hit .061 against his slider last year. This year, with a 1.6 mph in slider velocity, they've hit .267 with 4 home runs. In fact, the dip in velocity occurred with all four of his pitches, and it led to bad results. Also, his walk rate has nearly doubled and his strikeout rate has been cut by nearly a third. Among the 59 pitchers with 60 or more innings pitched, Megill's 1.668 WHIP is the highest. His velocity better get back up, or else his major league career will end sooner rather than later.

Grade: D+

Justin Verlander - 2023 Mets starting pitcher first half grade

1st Half Stats: 70.0 IP, 12 starts, 3-4, 3.60 ERA, 57 K, 19 BB, 115 ERA+, .293 OBP against

Verlander missed the first month of the season due to injury, but has put up some respectable numbers thus far, though it is nowhere near where he was last year when he won the Cy Young in the American League for the Houston Astros. But what's allowed Verlander to be valuable to this team is his ability to go deep into games. Verlander pitched six innings or more in seven of his 12 starts in the first half, and threw 100 or more pitches in five of them. And for someone making $43.3 million this season, he'll need to keep giving the Mets six innings or more per start.

Grade: B

Carlos Carrasco - 2023 Mets starting pitcher first half grade

1st Half Stats: 61.0 IP, 12 starts, 3-3, 5.16 ERA, 43 K, 27 BB, 80 ERA+, 5.95 FIP

The idea of picking up Carrasco's $14 million option for this season was that he'd be able to go deep enough into games and give the Mets the best chance to win and that their other free agent pitchers would sign elsewhere (which they did). However, Carrasco has not given the Mets great chances to win.

Carrasco has generally come up small in the big moments this year, unlike last year where he was able to get out jams all the time with his putaway pitches. Carrasco gave up 12 home runs in the first half, compared to 17 last year in 152 innings, and opponents are batting .311 with runner in scoring position, compared to just .248 last year. As a result, his shorter starts have led to a taxed bullpen that was relentlessly exposed in June, and he might not survive the trade deadline.

Grade: C-