Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-USA TODAY Sports
Thus far in New York Mets camp, one of the players who has very quietly enjoyed a ton of success is non-roster invitee Mike Montgomery. With less than a week left in Grapefruit League play, the lefty has been one of the bigger standouts on the mound for the Mets.
Montgomery tossed two scoreless innings in his last outing back on March 11 against the Astros. He continued that success, tossing two more scoreless innings in the team’s 5-4 loss to that same Astros club on Monday afternoon in West Palm Beach.
Montgomery allowed a leadoff single, but retired the next three batters in order, including a Michael Brantley strikeout in the seventh. He then worked his way into and out of trouble in the eighth, striking out Jose Altuve to dance out of danger.
When asked about potential fifth starter options while speaking to reporters last week, Mets manager Luis Rojas mentioned Montgomery as well as Joey Lucchesi, Jordan Yamamoto, and fellow non-roster invites Corey Oswalt and Jerad Eickhoff.
Speaking directly on the veteran southpaw, Rojas said he thought Montgomery has thrown the ball really well thus far in camp, and the plan is to stretch him out and use him in sort of a swingman role.
The lefty pitched just five innings in 2020, but has struggled over the past few seasons for both the Royals and the Chicago Cubs. However, Montgomery has enjoyed some success working out of the bullpen, in the swingman role, having posted a 3.16 ERA over 182 innings.
Thus far in camp, Montgomery has allowed just four hits and a walk while striking out seven over 4.2 innings. With his March 28 opt-out approaching quickly, the Mets are going to need to decide if they want to add Montgomery to the big league roster very soon.
Though it is a relatively small sample size, there’s no denying Montgomery has been impressive. If he can continue building off this success, Montgomery could certainly be a nice piece to help this team in many different ways during the 2021 season.
