Yankees Preview: Jordan Montgomery’s Spring Training debut

Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery will take the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday in his first start of Spring Training.

After a breakout season in 2017, Yankees fans are eager to see Jordan Montgomery improve on what was a very successful rookie campaign.

Last season, a rotation lacking in enough bodies at the start was rounded out by the surprise performance of Montgomery. The lanky lefty took advantage of the opportunity and helped the Yanks to a breakout 91-win season.

Montgomery finished sixth in the Rookie of the Year voting, after posting a 9-7 record and a 3.88 ERA in 29 games, in spite of a brief demotion to Triple-A Scranton in August.

Monty’s removal from the 25-man roster had something to do with the fatigue he suffered in the second half of the season and therefore affected his usual steady control.

However, after returning to the big league club, Montgomery finished strongly with a 1.04 ERA over his final three starts.

Jason Cohen of Pinstripealley.com writes:

"He was valuable as a 2.7-win pitcher with a solid 8.34 K/9 and impressive 2.95 BB/9, but also for holding up over the course of the full season. The 155 innings he provided proved to be a godsend for this team."

Montgomery successfully ate innings and brought above-average control of five different offerings to his game: a curve (81 mph), sinker (92 mph), changeup (85 mph,) four-seam fastball (92 mph) and slider (86 mph) — per Brooksbaseball.com.

In a recent interview with NJ.com, Montgomery described how he felt about his pitching performance last season:

"I didn’t make many adjustments,” he said. “My fastball was inconsistent, my changeup was gone and I really kind of got through the year with two pitches. If I hadn’t had my curveball and wasn’t able to expand with it, who knows what would have happened? [But] it’s kind of good knowing I got through it without my best pitch, which is my changeup."

If this is any indication, fans can look forward to watching Montgomery grow as a big leaguer as he expands his pitch selection this season. It’s hard to imagine the success he could have if he’d had his changeup working, which Monty believes is his best pitch.

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It will be interesting for fans to see how Montgomery approaches the Phillies’ hitters on Sunday afternoon.