PORT ST. LUCIE — Tylor Megill arrived at spring training “on a mission” and will leave with a spot in the Mets starting rotation.
After watching the right-hander limit walks and control his pitch count in the Grapefruit League, manager Carlos Mendoza officially named Megill on Sunday as part of the rotation, with his season debut scheduled for Game 2 of the season in Houston.
Griffin Canning was also named to the rotation as the starter for Game 3 in Houston.
Clay Holmes will start Thursday’s season opener, with David Peterson and Kodai Senga set to pitch in succession next week in Miami.
Paul Blackburn will open the season in the bullpen, as The Post first reported was a consideration.
“It wasn’t an easy [decision] because of how well they are all throwing the baseball,” Mendoza said before the Mets beat the Marlins 10-2 in an exhibition game at Clover Park. “Megill earned it. He came into camp on a mission and he went out there and earned it. He did a lot of things we were asking, and it started with throwing strikes and attacking hitters and he did that during spring. His stuff is elite. He earned it.”
Canning, who arrived on a one-year contract worth $4.25 million, was projected from the start of camp to begin the season in the rotation.
In a final spring tuneup on Sunday, he held the Marlins to two earned runs over 4 ¹/₃ innings.
He finished the spring with a 1.88 ERA.
Megill, who could have returned to Triple-A Syracuse — he is the only pitcher among the three competing for a spot who has a minor league option — became a candidate to open the season with the Mets following injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea.
Montas has a high-grade lat strain that could cost him at least one-third of the season and Manaea is dealing with a strained oblique that will likely sideline him into late April.
Megill struggled early last season for the Mets and spent much of the summer at Syracuse.
But he returned to the major leagues in late August and pitched to a 2.32 ERA over his final six starts.
“Just attacking the strike zone and limiting walks,” Megill said of his late-season surge. “The big thing early on was I was walking a lot of guys and the pitch count got up. … If I can limit walks and those three-ball counts, I will be in good shape pitch count-wise and health-wise going into each inning.”
Blackburn will be used in a multi-inning relief role, according to Mendoza, to keep his pitch count extended.
The right-hander could be utilized as a starter beginning in mid-April, when the Mets are expected to begin employing a six-man rotation.
Blackburn underwent offseason surgery for a cerebrospinal fluid leak.
“I feel that I came with a lot of unknowns given the circumstances, with how the season ended last year,” Blackburn said. “Where I am now is where I feel I have always been toward the end of spring training, where I feel I am in good shape, good form to start the year and be ready to go.”
How would Mendoza characterize his starting rotation?
“I feel really good about it,” he said. “We are talking about guys with stuff, we are talking about guys with a lot of different pitch types, with Peterson. There is a lot to like. We feel very comfortable.”
