PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Juan Soto was wandering through the Mets’ clubhouse on Wednesday when he strolled past the locker of Tobias Myers, who happened to be standing there. About 20 minutes earlier, Myers had thrown live batting practice to a group of Mets that included Soto.
“Good s--- today,” Soto told him, stopping to ask about a specific pitch. “That was a cutter?”
Myers nodded. “It wasn’t good,” he said.
“No,” Soto corrected him. “That was a good pitch.”
Perhaps the positive review shouldn’t have been surprising to Myers, who, over the past two seasons, has thrown far more good pitches than bad ones. It’s precisely why the Mets targeted him in their January trade for his more heralded teammate, Freddy Peralta. Club officials now see Myers as a crucial part of their pitching depth -- the type of player who can start games at a moment’s notice, while serving as a multi-inning relief ace in the interim.
Given his versatility, manager Carlos Mendoza said, Myers is an Opening Day roster lock. Although the right-hander has an accessible Minor League option, allowing the Mets to keep him stretched out as a starting pitcher at Triple-A Syracuse if they want to, they have no plans to do so.
“I’d rather help the team win big league games,” Myers said. “Of course, everybody in this building wants to be in the big leagues. There’s nobody in here that wants to be in the Minor Leagues. But I think everybody has the same mindset: everybody wants to help the team win. That’s a great place to be.”
It is such a great place, in Myers’ mind, that when the Mets acquired him and Peralta for prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat, he was “pumped.” Any bittersweet trade emotions melted amidst the anticipation of joining such a star-studded -- and recognizable -- roster.
“I was super excited,” Myers said. “Luckily, I had Devin [Williams] over here, Freddy over here, a bunch of guys that I’ve played with in the past, in the Minor Leagues. I just felt a little bit more familiar with the guys. And other than that, the new guys that I’ve met have been top-notch guys. They’ve really welcomed me and welcomed everybody new in the building. I’ve got no complaints.”
Since Myers’ arrival, New York’s pitching team has worked with him on some mechanical tweaks, as well as adjustments to his pitch grips. The top priority is his splitter, which Myers began throwing last season and which quickly became his best swing-and-miss weapon. It’s a grip he learned from Justin Meccage, his Triple-A pitching coach who borrowed it from former Pirates closer David Bednar.
With that offering largely supplanting his changeup, Myers managed a 3.55 ERA in the Majors last season despite below-average fastball velocity, strikeout and chase rates. As a reliever, Myers has been nearly unhittable, posting a 1.62 ERA over 18 appearances in his Major League career.
There’s a solid chance that’s how he begins the season, considering the Mets opened camp with five rotation locks in Peralta, Nolan McLean, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson, plus another pitcher, Kodai Senga, who could complete a six-man rotation if healthy. While such an arrangement leaves little wiggle room for spring competition, the bullpen has plenty of space. In the relief corps, Mets officials see Myers occupying the role that José Buttó did the past two seasons, throwing two or even three innings per appearance.
“You’re going to need guys like him,” Mendoza said.
For that reason, the Mets never viewed Myers as a throw-in piece in the Peralta trade. They instead see him as an important arm in his own right, capable of doing things others on the staff cannot -- of starting and relieving and bouncing between roles as needed.
Or, as Myers put it: “I know that they know and they like that I can do both.”