3 New York Mets MVP candidates, and 1 player who should be benched

With the New York Mets getting off to a strong start this season, let’s take a look at three players who could be the team MVP early on, and one player that has not performed well.

The New York Mets are continuing their long West Coast trip that has seen them visit Oakland, Los Angeles (to meet the Dodgers), and now San Francisco. Outside of six games at Citi Field earlier in the month, the Mets have been putting on the frequent flier miles in the early part of the 2023 campaign.

While the team has been playing on the road quite a bit early on, there are three players who certainly haven’t let the time away from the Big Apple cut into their statistics. Let’s look at those three players, and then also mention one member of the Mets who has been at the opposite end of the success spectrum.

New York Mets MVP candidate No. 3: Tylor Megill, SP

Through his first four starts of the season, it can be argued that Megill is the most valuable member of the Mets rotation. Plus, with the 10-game suspension for Max Scherzer after his sticky situation against the Dodgers, Megill may become even more important for the Mets through the end of April.

The 27-year-old right-hander has a 3.00 ERA and 1.429 WHIP through his first 21.0 innings of the season. Those numbers are good, but Megill’s 5.75 FIP shows that he hasn’t just been good, but also lucky early on. However, the Mets will take any kind of good luck when it comes to their rotation after the number of injuries and odd situations that have shaken things up for their starting pitchers so far.

Opponents are hitting .238 against him and he’s struck out 17 in those 21.0 frames. According to Baseball Savant, his slider usage has crept up early in the campaign, and he’s had success with it as opponents are hitting just .120 when he throws that pitch.

While his numbers may still have some work to do, there’s no doubt the Mets would be hurting without what they have received from Megill so far in 2023.