Ranking the Mets starting pitcher depth chart behind the starting 5

With the New York Mets adding Luis Severino, Adrian Houser, and Sean Manaea to a rotation that already consisted of Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana, they essentially have completed their 2024 Opening Day rotation.

A surprise move can happen if the price is right, and injuries always happen, but assuming no shenanigans are involved, the rotation will consist of those five players. It's a rotation that has a clear ace in Senga, some upside with pitchers like Severino and Manaea, and consistent arms like Quintana and Houser. The ceiling isn't particularly high, but the floor with four of the five starters should be decent enough.

A big issue the Mets have had in recent years is pitching depth, or lack thereof. The Mets build rotations capable of competing, but fall short when it comes to depth. Fortunately this offseason, it appears that the Mets have quite a bit of starting pitching depth with four decent options behind the starting five. This is how those four starters should be ranked.

4) Jose Butto

Jose Butto got his first extended action in the Mets rotation and wound up making the most of it, forcing himself into the conversation to see more MLB time in 2024 either as a starter or as a reliever.

Butto made four appearances through the first five months of the season but in September, with the team looking practically unrecognizable, Butto found himself inserted into the regular rotation as one of the six Mets starters. He made five starts in September, pitching really well in four of them and undoubtedly opening some eyes.

The right-hander posted a 3.29 ERA in those five starts and allowed two runs or fewer in five or more innings in four of them. Butto pitched really well against playoff teams like the Diamondbacks, Marlins and Phillies. He wound up posting a very respectable 3.64 ERA in his nine MLB appearances (seven starts) this past season, proving that he can indeed get MLB hitters out.

Butto's lack of a sample size has him at the bottom of the depth chart rankings, but he can easily make his way up if he continues to pitch well in his next opportunity. Knowing the Mets, that opportunity might come sooner than later.

3) Tylor Megill

Eventually, Tylor Megill just is what he is. There's no doubt that he has some potential. He's shown some great things in his three seasons with the Mets. The fact of the matter with this right-hander is he's struggled to stay healthy and has been wildly inconsistent. He looked mostly awful this past season, despite being the Mets' Opening Day starter.

Megill was thrust into action when Justin Verlander landed on the IL and after a decent April, really struggled for much of the season. He did find a way to stay healthy this past season and made 25 starts for the Mets, but he made ten of those starts in the second half after a six-start stint in the minor leagues. Megill was sent down in late June after posting a 5.17 ERA in 15 starts.

He finished his season on the right foot, posting a 3.00 ERA in his final eight starts, but Megill really only had a couple of starts all season long where it looked like he was in control. His command took a major step back in 2023, and his strikeouts took a big dip as well. He might've posted a 4.70 ERA but his xERA was over a full run higher at 5.89 thanks in large part to elevated hit and walk rates.

Megill has shown flashes of being a solid starting pitcher in this league, but he's also failed to string together any sort of consistency throughout his three MLB seasons. He'll get a chance to contribute at some point, but Megill could be running out of chances to prove himself.

2) Joey Lucchesi

Joey Lucchesi's Mets tenure got off to a rough start but he posted a 1.19 ERA in his last five starts in the 2021 season before needing Tommy John Surgery. That knocked him out for not only the remainder of that season but for the entire 2022 season, making him somewhat of a forgotten man in the minds of Mets fans.

Lucchesi stuck around with the Mets and had four different stints with the MLB team in 2023. He never quite stuck but he certainly pitched well enough to, posting a 2.89 ERA in 46.2 innings pitched on the year. He had a pair of dominant outings in San Francisco and against the Diamondbacks which saw him get through seven innings without allowing a single earned run, showing that he can compete at this level.

The stuff isn't anything to write home about, but he's fun to watch with his "churve" and funky wind-up, and the results were certainly good enough for him to warrant more of a look in the 2024 season.

The 30-year-old has had success primarily as a starting pitcher but has also pitched out of the bullpen in his MLB career. He feels like a solid option to succeed in either role. Thanks to his efforts this past season and his time in San Diego, Lucchesi has shown enough to slot ahead of Megill, but not quite enough to be at the top of this list.