SPARE JORDAN
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Had things gone differently over the past few months, Jordan Montgomery would likely be getting ready to be the ace of the Triple-A RailRiders and provide big-league rotation depth.
But Yu Darvish got six years and $126 million from the Cubs, the Pirates liked the Astros’ package for Gerrit Cole better than the one offered by the Yankees and nobody on the Yankees’ staff got hurt in spring training.
That meant Montgomery, who came from far off the pace last spring training to make the Yankees’ rotation, entered this year’s camp as the Yankees’ No. 5 starter. After allowing a run and six hits in six innings during Thursday’s 2-1 victory over the Twins at Hammond Stadium, the 25year-old Montgomery remains in that spot and will start the Yankees’ home opener on April 2 against Tampa Bay.
So, inside a calendar year Montgomery moved from a rookie pitcher who made 29 starts for the Yankees, went 9-7 with a 3.88 ERA and was on the roster for the ALDS and the ALCS to possibly being the odd arm out if the club added Darvish or Cole.
Montgomery had to be aware of what the Yankees were doing during the winter but didn’t obsess over it.
“I’m trying to do a little better. I know I am capable of putting up better numbers,’’ Montgomery said. “I am going to take it with a grain of salt and show them to keep me around.’’
Since Montgomery’s professional high in innings was the 152 he worked in 2016, the Yankees were careful with him last season. He worked 155 ¹/3 big-league innings and eight in the minor leagues for a total of 163 ¹ /3 innings.
Organizations like to hold starting pitchers to between 15 percent and 20 percent jumps in innings when they are Montgomery’s age. A 20 percent increase this season would put him at 195 frames. No Yankee starter threw that many innings a year ago when Luis Severino led the staff with 193 ¹/3 innings.
Last year is long gone, but Montgomery learned a valuable lesson facing bigleague hitters he believes will help him become a better pitcher in Year 2.
“Even if I am throwing a fastball or a curveball and they know it’s coming I can still throw it,’’ said Montgomery, who has worked on the changeup this spring. “I am trying to compete with my fastball and pitch off that. Last year I was kind of timid with my fastball.’’
Aaron Boone has been encouraged after Montgomery’s first two spring outings were rocky because he was attempting to find a consistent delivery.
“Really nice step. You can tell he has gotten more comfortable with his delivery and the ability to throw his secondary pitches at any time and still be that put-away pitch for him,’’ Boone said. “He was pitch efficient, too. To get through six [innings] and I think just 70 pitches. I like his progression, especially after those two early ones. The secondary stuff is hard to hit, guys don’t pick it up well, guys don’t see it well. The ability to throw it for a strike and put guys away with it is important. All in all, I thought it was a really good day for him.’’
When you heard about the young blood that helped carry the Yankees to Game 7 of the ALCS against the Astros last fall, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Severino, Greg Bird and Chad Green were the headliners while Montgomery remained in the chorus.
General manager Brian Cashman upgraded the lineup by adding Giancarlo Stanton, Brandon Drury and Neil Walker. He would have done the same to the rotation had the prices on Darvish and Cole reached a point Cashman was comfortable with.
That leaves him with a young lefty searching to improve on a rookie year that left room for just that.