Reese Kaplan -- A Mets Midseason Top Ten List (10 through 8)

It's often traditional during the All Star Break to come up with evaluation report cards for players on the team who are responsible for where the club is in the standings.  Though slightly more than halfway through the season the three-day July hiatus from regularly scheduled games is customarily regarded as the midpoint of a given year and thus a midseason grade seems to be in order.  

Remember when you were a kid in school (or you now have kids in school) who wanted to brag to you about how they got top marks in one particular subject while conveniently neglecting to reveal how they did elsewhere?  Well, in a way that's the issue with report cards and player rankings.  Once you get past the top ten, no one is really paying attention anymore.  

Consequently in this upcoming series we will look at the Mets own top ten list of who is responsible for the club's occupancy of the top slot in the NL East for the majority of the season.  

That's not to dismiss the efforts of credible players like Mark Canha and Brandon Nimmo, but they're not quite at the cream of the crop level nor did they contribute to fill a dire need when it was needed most.

Number 10

Now many folks will have a bit of consternation at this player hitting the Citifield Top Ten List, but he most certainly did the heavy lifting when it was needed the most.  Tylor Megill was asked to take over a spot in the pitching rotation not due to incompetence of the 5th starter or stacked up doubleheaders or making up for a few regulars who got knocked out early.  No, the somewhat unheralded Megill was asked to fill the shoes of two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom who has yet to throw a pitch in a 2022 season.  

Before arm injuries derailed his season, people were already pondering what the club could do to shoehorn Megill into the rotation regularly.  As a reminder, for the month of April Megill made five starts for the Mets, going 4-0 with one no decision, spanning a total of 28 IP during which he struck out 27, walked just 6, yielded but 18 hits and finished with an ERA for that month of just 1.93.  Who was that guy he was replacing again???

Number 9

Unfortunately, when the injury bug bit Megill in the worst possible way the Mets scrambled to give games to AAAA pitchers, openers and seemingly anyone with a pulse.  

Then along came a seemingly reborn and revitalized David Peterson, a 6'6" southpaw who had shown flashes in the past but never strung together a consistent body of top notch work when the club needed it most.  Here he was pitching when the team was missing not just deGrom but Max Scherzer, too, and did they ever need someone to take command on the mound.  

After one emergency start in mid June Peterson was handed a regular rotation slot for the next six games to finish out June and up through this All Star Break.  He only won 2 of those games but during that interval he threw 32.1 IP while fanning an eye popping 49 batters faced.  

He did walk 13 but minimized the damage with just 24 hits allowed.  Together that six-game run has thus far amounted to midseason classic ERA of 2.78 from one of your starting pitchers.  

Number 8

I've done a couple of whole articles on the annual improvement in the production of Luis Guillorme, but for a guy who doesn't get penciled into the lineup on a daily basis he sure is making the most of the chances he's getting.  Whether he's spelling incompetence like Robinson Cano, giving regulars a day off to rest or recover from injury or merely because he has been so productive that you kind of have to find ways to include him in the gameplan, Guillorme is making the Mets realize that they have a gem as a backup infielder.  

Right now at the break he's hitting .293 (and that's after a slump!)  He's doubled his career home run output to two thus far and routinely makes highlight reel defensive gems that put other infielders to shame.  

Well folks, that's a start to a Mets Top Ten list for the 2022 season.  Positions 7-5 will fill our next volume for your consideration.