Monty enters ’18 with expanded pitching arsenal
TAMPA — By most accounts, Jordan Montgomery had a standout rookie season.
The southpaw was one of the Yankees’ most unexpected surprises out of spring training a year ago, when he won the final spot in the rotation and went on to go 9-7 with a 3.88 ERA in 155 ¹ /3 innings.
The team’s fourth-round pick in 2014, though, wasn’t impressed and heads into this spring trying to make sure the changeup that escaped him for most of 2017 returns.
“I kind of panicked last year a little bit, which is not usual for me,’’ Montgomery said at the team’s minor league complex Monday. “I didn’t make many adjustments. My fastball was inconsistent, my changeup was gone. I really kind of got through the year with two pitches.”
Montgomery, who turned 25 in December, mostly credited his curveball with allowing him to survive his first year in the majors.
“If I hadn’t had my curveball and been able to throw it for strikes and expand [the zone] with it, who knows what would have happened,” Montgomery said. “It’s kind of good knowing I got through it without my best pitch, my changeup.”
It may have worked out last season, but he’d rather not repeat the challenge and so far this spring, Montgomery said the changeup seems improved.
“It’s just a pitch you’ve got to keep throwing,’’ Montgomery said. “When you give up on it, that’s when it gets worse. That’s the last thing I need to do, which I learned. I went through it and hopefully it makes me a little better.”
The fine-tuning has already begun.
“I’ve just got to get my arm up and throw through it, which is easier said than done,” Montgomery said. “But I feel like I’ve got a little more feel for it this year. And a cooler head. I know my mechanics.”
Despite the presence of five starters — Montgomery, Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray and CC Sabathia — the Yankees are still on the lookout for another piece. They know Montgomery might not build on 2017 and the rest of the group contains some healthy question marks.
Montgomery insists he’s not concerned about that and will approach this camp the same way he did last year.
“I always try to work as hard as I can and treat it like nothing’s guaranteed,’’ Montgomery said. “I feel like when you slack off and think you’ve got it made, that’s when the carpet’s gonna get pulled up from underneath you. I’m just gonna keep treating every day like I did last year.”
And avoid some of the mistakes he made. Montgomery pointed to a Sept. 10 game in Texas, when he was staked to a 9-1 lead and was knocked out in the fourth inning.
“Those games can’t happen,” Montgomery said. “I had a handful of starts like that. It’s not having the poise and confidence in my heater that I usually have. I think that just comes with being a rookie and being thrown into the league. It’s good to look back to see how inconsistent I was with all that stuff and [I was] still getting outs. We’ll see what I can do this year.”