Yankees: Girardi’s “Curiosity” Sends Montgomery To Yankee Stadium

The Yankees, when Spring Training began, pretty much had their starting rotation set.  But something happened along the way. And that something is taking the ball to make his first major league start tomorrow at Yankee Stadium.

When the Yankees opened their Spring Training camp in February, the name Jordan Montgomery barely caused a blip on the radar screen when it came to the composition of the team’s starting rotation.

Beginning with Masahiro Tanaka and the veteran CC Sabathia, ending with Luis Cessa at number five with Michael Pineda and Luis Severino sandwiched in-between, there didn’t appear to be an opening for a newcomer.

The surest and quickest way to make any baseball club, whether it’s high school or the New York Yankees, is to catch the attention of the manager.

The idea was that the Yankees would struggle through this season with what they had, even though it wasn’t very much, and then start the process of turning the rotation over next season after the dust settled and the cream rose to the top from the talent in their minor league system.

Yankees Girardi: “I’m Curious About Him.”

The surest and quickest way to make any baseball club, whether it’s high school or the New York Yankees, is to catch the attention of the manager.

And that’s exactly what happened in the case of Montgomery with Joe Girardi somewhere in the middle of spring training. It might not have been love at first sight exactly, but the word Girardi used after seeing Montgomery presence on the mound after a couple of innings was “curious.” And that’s almost the same thing as seeing the person you end up marrying across the room for the first time.

And he said all the baseball things you’re supposed to say about Montgomery at the time telling NJ.com, for instance:

"“He was a four-pitch mix,” the manager said. “He had a very good downhill angle. He’s 6-foot-6. He’s left-handed. He was able to use his breaking ball extremely well, whether it was his curveball or his cutter, his changeup’s good. When he locates his fastball, it’s really good. His stuff is really good. And he’s got run to his fastball on the first base side of the plate. He has different ways to get you out.”"

But as time moved along and the weeding out process began, especially when Luis Cessa was removed from the picture, it suddenly became apparent that there was a job to be won at the top level of the Yankees organization.

The Message Was Just Keep On Truckin’

Montgomery had a 3.20 ERA in two starts and four relief appearances during spring training, striking out 17 and walking three in 19 2/3 innings.

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Montgomery himself was cut from the team, and along with Chad Green, it was made known that one of them was in line to be promoted when the team needed a fifth starter for the first time on April 16.

Neither pitcher hurt their cause when they combined to strike out 11 batters against a Class-A team in Florida. But it was Montgomery who had the eye of Girardi, and all the young man had to do was make sure there were no hiccups along the way.

And it is telling that it was Girardi, and not Brian Cashman, who made the announcement following yesterday’s win against Tampa Bay that Montgomery would be his starting pitcher on Wednesday and, in effect, pushing Luis Severino back at least a day in the rotation.

The Future Is Now

And so, Montgomery’s rapid rise through the ranks (he’s only three years removed from pitching at the University of South Carolina), gives pause to Yankees fans that, at least in this case, the future is now for the team.

Caution is thrown to the wind and tomorrow the new face of the Yankees begins to take on a new look with a new name in the box score at the end of the day.

True to form, the team could have selected, for example, Bryan Mitchell who, more than Montgomery has a track record with the team. Or for that matter, Chad Green. But they didn’t. And that’s telling.

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Girardi may have been the first to be curious about Montgomery. But Yankees fans are all in with him now as the 24-year-old 6 foot 6-inch southpaw stands on the hill tomorrow to make his major league debut. Because this is fun stuff and just the beginning of the source of excitement this team has been building on and promising its fans.

Well done, Joe. You picked a good one to marry.