NEW YORK -- At some point last week, Tobias Myers glanced at his calendar and realized it was September.
That surprised Myers. Since mid-July, he had been with Triple-A Syracuse, seeking to correct the flaws that had transformed him from an early-season standout to a midsummer afterthought. Once a crucial part of the Mets’ bullpen, Myers found himself without either a role or a clear path back to Flushing. So he did the only thing he knew: Myers put his head down and worked.
“Time’s kind of flown, honestly,” he said last week from the dugout bench in Syracuse, N.Y. “I haven’t really noticed how long I’ve been down here.”
On Sunday, that purgatorial state finally came to an end. Before their 4-2 win over the Giants, the Mets recalled Myers from Syracuse and optioned left-hander Jefry Yan. Myers contributed immediately, pitching a scoreless eighth against some of San Francisco’s top hitters, which earned him the win when Bo Bichette hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the inning.
“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.”
When the Mets parted with two of their best prospects in January to acquire Freddy Peralta from the Brewers, they stomached the cost in part because the deal also netted them Myers. A former sixth-round Draft pick and versatile pitcher capable of performing in just about any role from the first inning to the ninth, Myers had been a pleasant surprise in Milwaukee, producing a 3.15 ERA over parts of two seasons there. In April, he gave the Mets a similar run of success.
But when things began unraveling for Myers, they did so quickly, starting with a four-run blowup May 6 in Colorado. From that day forward, Myers allowed runs in six of 10 appearances, making him the obvious choice for a Minor League demotion when the Mets faced a roster crunch at the end of June.
Two weeks later, Myers returned but fared even worse, allowing 17 runs over 12 2/3 innings while struggling with his radar gun readings. He went back to Triple-A on July 12 and didn’t return until Sunday.
“He just lost a little bit of the stuff,” Green said.
In Syracuse, Myers worked with water bags and weighted balls to increase his velocity, while also drilling down on his approach. At some point early this season, Myers said, he became infatuated with the idea of getting outs early in counts. That became a problem as the quality of his stuff ticked downward, making it easier for opponents to put the ball in play with authority.
“It’s unfortunately not that uncommon where some guys get a little bit lost, and that’s such a hard level to fix things,” Triple-A pitching coach A.J. Sager said of the Majors. “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.”
Over his final six outings with Syracuse, working in spurts of two to three innings, Myers pitched to a 1.23 ERA with 17 strikeouts and two walks over 14 2/3 innings. His average fastball velocity, which had dipped as low as 89.9 mph in a July 19 game with Syracuse, was back up to around 93 mph, allowing Myers to command the top of the strike zone with more confidence. That, in turn, let his splitter become a more effective two-strike weapon.
On Sunday, Myers worked mostly off his fastball, which reached 94.1 mph, as well as the splitter. He also used his cutter as an out pitch to left-handed hitters, getting both Drew Gilbert and Bryce Eldridge to chase well out of the zone.
“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.”