The Diamondbacks kick Jordan Montgomery to the bullpen. Manager Torey Lovullo announced the decision this afternoon on the Burns & Gambo Show (link via Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports).
Lovullo said he informed Montgomery of the decision today. Ryne Nelson has pitched more than Montgomery in recent weeks, earning the fifth spot in the starting lineup. Nelson, who is on the mound tonight at Fenway Park, had an ERA of nearly 5.00 at the All-Star break. He has completely flipped the script in the last month, posting a 2.89 mark while striking out 29% of opposing hitters in 37 1/3 innings. Nelson remains behind Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez And Brandon Pfaadt in the starting eleven.
On the other hand, Montgomery has struggled basically all season. He has a 6.44 ERA with a well below average 15.5% strikeout rate in 19 starts. Montgomery got off to a late start to the year, having only signed on Opening Day. Unlike Blake Snellwho got off to a horrible start as a late addition before regaining his Cy Young form, has been unsuccessful for the rest of the year. He is allowing 6.44 earned runs per nine in the first and second halves. Opponents’ batting averages are over .300 and slugging averages are over .500.
Montgomery has averaged about 92 mph with his sinker and four-seam fastball. Both pitches were above 93 mph a year ago. Aside from a decent 11.9% swinging strike rate, in line with his career average, there’s little in this year’s stat line that offers much hope of a turnaround. Montgomery had an excellent track record early this season, but the D-backs have five starters who are better in the fight for a playoff spot. They are four games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and have a five-game lead on a wild card spot.
This will be Montgomery’s first career bullpen appearance. He has started 159 of his 160 MLB games. His first relief pitcher appearance came in September 2019, when he returned from Tommy John surgery without the benefit of a lengthy minor league rehab. He will likely work as a relief pitcher for multiple innings. If the D-backs make the playoffs, Lovullo and his team could have a difficult decision to make about whether to even add him to the postseason roster.
That would have been hard to imagine just a few months ago. Arizona signed Montgomery as a prospective rotation pickup when Rodriguez suffered a lat injury in training camp. He is playing for a $25 million salary. He started 10 games and triggered an accompanying $20 million player option for next year. That rose to $22.5 million when he made his 18th start; he would have raised it to $25 million if he reached 23 starts, though that no longer seems likely. In any case, he will almost certainly exercise the option rather than return to free agency next winter.
