Underrated Jordan Montgomery One Step from Yankees Rotation

After a recent promotion to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre, starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery is just one step away from joining the Yankees rotation.

New York Yankees 23-year-old minor league starter Jordan Montgomery made his second straight strong start for the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Railriders in Sunday’s 5-1 victory over the Syracuse Chiefs. He out-dueled Nationals’ elite pitching prospect Reynaldo Lopez, striking out five batters over six innings of shutout ball.

Montgomery was promoted to the International League on August 2nd, after compiling a 2.43 ERA in 115 innings of work for the Double-A Trenton Thunder. His peripheral stats on the season have also been strong. He’s struck out 8.1 per nine innings while walking 3.1 per nine.

The rate of free passes is higher than you’d like to see, but it hasn’t been a huge problem for him in the past. Montgomery is generally considered to have pretty strong command, so this recent uptick in walks probably isn’t anything to worry about.

Since being drafted by the Yankees in the fourth round of the 2014 draft out of the University of South Carolina, the 6’6 255 lb. righthander has breezed through the club’s minor league system. Montgomery was seen as a fairly finished product coming out of the NCAA. He had a 2.87 in 42 starts during his 42 starts with the Gamecocks, and earned him the reputation as a “big-game pitcher.”

His success this season has earned him the 20th spot on MLB Pipeline’s 2016 Prospect Watch list for the Yankees. Here’s an excerpt from their free scouting report describing his arsenal:

Montgomery’s fastball was effective at 88-92 mph because it runs and sinks and he commands it well. It jumped to 91-94 mph in August, giving it more separation from his best pitch, a fading changeup. He also throws an effective curveball and cutter.

Montgomery has climbed the Yankees minor league ladder two rungs at a time the past three years, and could join the big league team as soon as September. Since he doesn’t have a 40 man roster spot and the Yankees have a number of young arms seemingly ahead of him on the depth chart, Montgomery may need to wait until 2017 to get his chance in the Bronx.

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If the Yankees opt to deal even more veterans this winter, Jordan Montgomery could compete with Chad Green, Luis Cessa, and Chance Adams for a rotation job in the near future. Like most of the club’s big league ready arms, he’s more of a back-of-the-rotation type, but sometimes those guys can surprise you.