4 under the radar Mets who could play crucial roles in 2022

3. NY Mets Starting Pitcher Tylor Megill

The Mets boast one of the best one-two punches in recent history with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer atop the rotation. Add to that high upside pitchers like Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker and the Mets have the makings of a potentially lethal starting rotation. However, we've seen this story before, as the Mets built a championship-contending team built on pitching just a few years ago and health was an issue. All of the top four have faced injury concerns over the past two years, and that can't be ignored.

While the Mets will undoubtedly add another starter to the backend of the rotation to ensure that they have someone who can eat some innings, the team must have backup plans in place. The past few years the Mets have seen numerous pitchers go down and they have proven that you can never have too much depth. Enter Tylor Megill who was thrust into the rotation last year after a multitude of injuries and pitched admirably, showing flashes of being a pitcher the Mets can rely upon.

According to Baseball Reference, Megill tallied 89.2 innings pitched, while logging 99 strikeouts and a 4.52 ERA. While on the surface the numbers don't look great, the ERA was inflated by a handful of bad starts by a pitcher who didn't log a ton of innings. He showed flashes of being a high quality major league starter, and while it's unlikely he will pitch as dominantly as he did in his first few starts, it's also unlikely he will pitch as bad as he did towards the back end of the season.

If Megill can show even half of the way he pitched for most of last year, he will be a key cog for the Mets this season, as there is no doubt at least one pitcher will hit the Injured List at some point this season. Combine him with David Peterson, Jordan Yamamoto, Joey Lucchesi, and Trevor Williams, and the Mets could have some valuable starting pitching depth behind their talented rotation.