Yankees: Everyone Forgot About Jordan Montgomery and His Incredible Breaking Ball

In case you forgot, Yankees left-hander Jordan Montgomery’s breaking ball is still filthy.

The Yankees’ big boppers were the talk of Sunday night’s beatdown of the Mets, and understandably so, as they dispatched five long balls— all of which were launched further than 400 feet — en route to a 6-0 victory.

Lost in the home run barrage was the outstanding performance from starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who needed just 59 pitches to complete five shutout innings.

The 27-year-old southpaw underwent Tommy John surgery in June of 2018 and returned at the end of last season in time to make two appearances. During his lengthy rehab, everybody seemingly forgot just how lethal his breaking ball is. With just days remaining until the start of the 2020 campaign, Montgomery reminded Yankees fans that his curve is among the best in baseball.

It’s not often that MLB hurlers make sluggers like Pete Alonso and Robinson Cano (twice) look as helpless as they did on those pitches. After logging just four innings last year and enduring a longer than expected offseason, Montgomery’s stuff looked to be in midseason form against the Yankees’ crosstown rivals.

There’s been talk that the former fourth-round pick would have to fight to earn a spot in the rotation following his Tommy John rehab. It’s safe to say that he put that conversation to bed last night.

In all likelihood, Montgomery will start the third or fourth game of the year for New York, and it appears that he’s poised to pick up where he left off during his promising rookie campaign back in 2017, when he finished 9-7 with a 3.88 ERA, 144 strikeouts and a 1.230 WHIP across 29 starts.

With Luis Severino shelved for the entire season, this is outstanding news for Yankees fans, who won’t have to wait much longer to see Monty bamboozle more hitters with his devastating breaking ball.