Jordan Montgomery will start Yankees home opener

This week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone showed apparent confidence in his young starting pitchers. Boone announced Luis Severino will start on Opening Day, and sophomore southpaw pitcher Jordan Montgomery will start the home opener.

Most Yankees fans are not surprised Severino was named the Opening Day starting pitcher.  However, some have mixed feelings about Montgomery starting the baseball season in the Bronx on Monday, April 2.

After finishing third in Cy Young voting last year, Severino definitely earned the role of ace.  Montgomery, on the other hand, had to fight this spring to earn a rotation spot.  Nevertheless, “Gumby” proved his worth and won the No. 5 rotation spot.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Did Yankees troll Jon Heyman with Aaron Judge contract tweet?
• Matt Carpenter leaving Yankees for massive raise is hard to argue with
• What on earth is going on with Yankees, Fernando Tatis Jr. and flight to New York?
• 4 former Yankees players New York can still reunite with in free agency
• Yankees top prospects butt heads after Giants’ gritty win over Commanders

I understand why some fans disagree with Montgomery starting in the Yankees home opener, but the Yankees start the season with five straight games. I respect that Aaron Boone is sticking to the order of his five-man rotation to start the season.

From 2009 through 2017, ex-manager Joe Girardi selected either C.C. Sabathia or Masahiro Tanaka as the team’s starter on Opening Day. Sure, it would be nice to see them start for the Yankees home opener, again. But why? In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter.

Our own Yanks Go Yard writer Yaakov Grunsfeld made an argument for Tanaka starting the on Opening Day a couple of days ago. Yes, Tanaka’s pitched in big games. Heck, the 2017 postseason Tanaka was arguably the best we’ve seen from him, but still, he’s the No. 2 starter.

Also, Yankees radio broadcaster Jon Sterling mentioned on-air he was surprised Boone didn’t fiddle with the rotation. A simple swap with Montgomery would have let Tanaka or Sabathia pitch on April 2. However, as of now, Boone has not mentioned if he plans on switching up the rotation.

Stop overlooking Jordan Montgomery

Opening Day and the home opener are just two out of the 162 games in a regular season. One thing I know for sure is since Montgomery didn’t pitch in the 2017 postseason, his April 2nd start may be his most watched start to date.

In my opinion, Montgomery did not deserve to be over-looked last year.  His rookie season was comparable to Clayton Kershaw’s, he’s still young, and he’s reportedly worked on his changeup this off-season.

Next: Severino named Opening Day starter

I know I’ll be rooting for the young underdog pitcher on April 2 and the rest of the season. He may not be flashy, but I can see Montgomery having success in 2018.  It’s nice to see Aaron Boone take the training wheels off and letting him start the home opener.