Somehow, Mets reliever Rafael Montero managed to navigate himself through the long offseason without getting himself cut from the 40-man roster, despite a couple of close calls. Now it appears that the one-time top pitching prospect is rewarding the front office’s continued faith in him, and even manager Terry Collins is liking the new and improved Montero this spring.
“He’s locating his pitches, that he hasn’t done in the past,” Collins said about the difference in Montero’s performance this spring. “He works the edges of the plate, and this year he’s catching those edges. He’s starting to show us things we know he’s got.”
On Sunday, Montero tossed two shutout innings against the Marlins, allowing two hits and striking out three. Overall, in eight Grapefruit League appearances, Montero has 20 strikeouts and seven walks in 13.1 innings, during which he has a 2.70 ERA. Four of those walks came in one game, his one bad outing of the spring.
“We’ve known that I get a lot of strikeouts and throw a lot of strikes,” Montero explained on Sunday. “I’m using the curveball in the dirt a lot and the fastball outside.”
I’m not sure that anything he does this spring will win him a spot in the opening day bullpen. Montero may have to continue pitching at this same performance level in Las Vegas before the Mets give him another big league shot after three mostly disappointing seasons at the big league level.
Once known as an excellent control artist throughout his minor league career, Montero has been anything but that in the majors, posting a 5.44 walk rate and 1.70 K/BB rate with a 5.02 FIP in 24 appearances from 2014-2016.
