Mid-Season Report Card: Jordan Montgomery

By -
Grade: B+

Although Jordan Montgomery didn’t join the Yankees starting rotation until the team’s eighth game of the season on April 12th, the young lefty has quickly established himself as one of the top young pitchers in the American League this season.  After beating out Bryan Mitchell, Luis Cessa and Chad Green for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, Montgomery has been nothing but solid to start his big league career. The young man they call Gumby has been perhaps – aside from Luis Severino – the Yankees’ best starting pitcher all season.

Photo Credit: Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images



First Half Performance:

Through his first 15 career starts, Montgomery has pitched to a 6-4 record with a steady 3.63 ERA over 87.0 innings pitched.  While he struggled with his control earlier in the season, his WHIP has steadily dropped over the last month and currently sits at 1.207.  Montgomery has also struck out 83 batters, or roughly one per every inning pitched.  He does not have overpowering stuff, but his high arm slot and good secondary pitches have been enough to keep hitters off-balanced all season and he has given the Yankees a chance to win in virtually every one of his starts.

 Here's a GIF of him making Evan Longoria look absolutely foolish with his slider:


Expectations for Second Half:

Montgomery finished June with a strong 2.59 ERA and 1.05 WHIP during the month, so it doesn’t appear he is showing any signs of slowing down.  He has pitched enough that teams should have a good enough scouting report on him, but it doesn’t look like hitters have fully figured him out, which should allow Monty to maintain his success over the course of the entire season.  Montgomery allowed five home runs in June, his most for a single month this season, but he also posted a career best .216 BAA during the month, so perhaps the spike in home runs is just a bit of bad luck.  Assuming he can continue to locate his pitches well and use his off-speed stuff effectively, Montgomery will continue to play a big role on a pitching staff looking to push New York towards a playoff berth.

Conclusion:

While it's perhaps foolish to expect Montgomery to pitch at an ace-like level this season, he has the stuff to succeed in the major leagues and should continue to pitch well enough for the Yankees to win in his starts every time he takes the ball. Montgomery has received a lot of praise and comparisons to Andy Pettitte, and if he can become even half the pitcher Pettitte was for New York in his career, the Yankees will be in very good shape for years to come.


Article by:  Andrew Natalizio

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Yankees' next big fish: The Bryce Harper and Manny Machado question

By -
Image
The scene was set for the young budding Bomber squad last fall after finishing their season a game away from a World Series berth. They were the team that arrived a year too early, and another deep playoff run would be the goal, but then an old friend threw a wrench in those plans. Derek Jeter put gargantuan slugger Giancarlo Stanton on the market, and Stanton dictated his transfer with a full no-trade clause. The Giants and Cardinals among others threw their name into the ring, but who did he choose? The Yankees and Dodgers, it seemed to be a battle of baseballs powerhouses, but the Yankees had an advantage over their former neighbors, payroll flexibility. They were able to use this into an absolute steal of the reigning NL MVP, and the Yankees were thrust into a world series or bust year. The season was historic, they set the season home run record without Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, and Aaron Judge for most if not all of the year, but it ended in a bust at the hands of…
Read more

Are the Yankees truly a Death Star? A Yankees’ Corey Kluber trade scenario that reopens the idea of adding Manny Machado

By -
Image
News broke today from Padres’ reporter Dennis Lin of the Athletic that the San Diego Padres are interested in acquiring Indians’ RHP Corey Kluber. This makes sense as the Padres have a plethora of young talent to deal, but also a strong core of players they can build around. However, there is a twist. The report of the Padres’ interest also included that the Padres would be interested in flipping him for a third baseman to anchor their infield. Kluber would instantly help the Friars, but with his window of solid years left closing, the match is not perfect.
Read more

Three things the Yankees need to acquire in the offseason that aren’t Manny Machado

By -
Image
The speculation started during the regular season, even prior to his trade from the Baltimore Orioles to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Where would Manny Machado go upon his free agency at the end of the 2018 regular season? And, with that, which teams would be knocking on his door?
No sooner did the Yankees’ regular season come to a close after their fated ending in the American League Division Series, the talks of Machado coming to the Bronx took off as though pushed by a speeding 4 Train behind Yankee Stadium. The truth of the matter is that the rumors started even prior to Machado’s free agency being on the horizon -- they started at the trade deadline.

Read more