Monty makes his pitch for rotation
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Donerail, at 91-1, copped the 1913 Kentucky Derby and remains the longest of long shots to win the crown jewel of horse racing.
Now, here comes lefty Jordan Montgomery from far off the pace to put himself in position to steal a spot in Joe Girardi’s Yankees rotation.
Luis Severino has pitched so poorly he has a strong chance of starting the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Bryan Mitchell has been the best of an underwhelming group of five arms looking for the fourth spot. Chad Green is ahead of Luis Cessa, but either could land in the bullpen or at SWB and Adam Warren’s bullpen experience is likely valued over what he can offer as a starter.
Since the Yankees won’t need a fifth starter until April 16, there is no need for Girardi to announce one before the season starts.
Two days ago, it was easy to dismiss the 24-year-old Montgomery as a nice spring-training story. His four perfect innings against the Tigers on March 17 opened eyes and had people comparing him to J.A. Happ because of the deception with which he pitches, but nobody was anointing him a member of the Yankees’ rotation.
The fourth-round pick in 2014 out of South Carolina still may open the season at Triple-A, where he dominated in six games last year, but what he did Thursday in a 5-5 tie with the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park pleased Girardi.
“He had swings and misses on his fastball and his slider. I thought his changeup was good and I thought his curveball was good,’’ Girardi said of Montgomery, who allowed two tainted runs, gave up three hits and fanned eight. Two of the whiffs were against Evan Longoria. “I thought he pitched a pretty good game. It is interesting case.’’
Can interesting turn into a big league start against the Orioles on the Yankees’ first homestand of the season?
“I liked what I saw. Obviously we still have seven, eight days to figure this out. I liked what I saw a lot,’’ said Girardi, who wasn’t sure if Montgomery will get another start under the palm trees.
Mitchell is the favorite, but he has bullpen experience and would add a power arm to a pen that has two of the best in Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman.
The first run Montgomery gave up Thursday was the result of right fielder Aaron Judge turning a single into a triple by diving for a ball that got by him. The second scored after Montgomery left a runner on base before he split in the fifth.
While Girardi is intrigued, the soft-spoken pitcher said the possibility of reaching the big leagues soon doesn’t enter his mind.
“You can’t think like that. I try to do my best every time and whatever happens, happens,’’ said Montgomery who went a combined 14-5 with a 2.13 ERA in 25 starts for SWBand Double-ATrenton in 2016. He was 5-1 with a 0.33 ERA in six Triple-A starts. “I focus on baseball.’’
That focus is added to a chip on his shoulder which Montgomery said has been there all his life and developed by others doubting him since a young age. All that helped him strike out Longoria swinging in the first and fourth innings. The first one was on a fastball and the second on a slider. Montgomery followed that second whiff by striking out Rickie Weeks Jr. on a foul tip and getting Steven Souza looking.
“He went right at him,’’ catcher Austin Romine said of the 6-foot-6 Montgomery, who reached 95 mph in the final frame. “He releases the ball high and gets a lot of swings and misses. The twoseamer [fastball] was invisible. The kid’s got a lot of pitch ability. If it is hard to catch it has to be hard to hit. He pitches in and is not afraid.’’