Yankees Jordan Montgomery shows off improved changeup this spring

Coming into the 2017 season, the Yankees had two open spots at the back of their rotation. Although the Yankees had five candidates, Jordan Montgomery came out of nowhere and won a spot.

Beating out Chad Green for the final spot in the Yankees rotation, Montgomery quietly had an excellent rookie season. After opening the campaign not horribly but not great, Montgomery went on to have a sparkling June to lower his ERA below four.

Then, after struggling during the course of the summer, Monty came back to the tune of  2.49 ERA down the stretch in his last five starts.

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Recently, when asked about his mid-season struggles, Montgomery revealed that he had lost his best pitch, his changeup. After struggling to rediscover its effectiveness for the first few months, he adjusted and eventually got by without it.

However, this offseason, Montgomery said that he had worked to recoup the changeup that would be the key to his future success.

On Friday, Montgomery showed off his recovered changeup over three scoreless innings of work.

Monty began his outing by giving up a double but rebounded by striking out the next two batters and inducing an inning-ending groundball. Then, in his third inning of work, Montgomery struck out the side with the help of his much-improved changeup.

With his rediscovered change, Montgomery can be more than a fifth starter for the Yankees.

After a 3.88 ERA in over 150 innings of work along with a 3.09 ERA against AL East opponents, Montgomery has a chance to be something special this year for the Yankees. As a player who garnered comparisons to a young Andy Pettite without his changeup, the outlook for Montgomery in his sophomore season has to be very exciting.

As a player that garnered comparisons to a young Andy Pettitte without his changeup, the outlook for Montgomery in his sophomore season is inspiring.

Next: Miguel Andujar impressing in Spring Training

After posting the highest bWAR for any AL rookie pitcher in baseball in 2017, it’s easy to get amped for an even better Monty this time around.