Yankee Fans, Welcome To The Jordan Montgomery Show

Let’s do this baby!! Today our golden boy Jordan Montgomery, otherwise known as Gumby, takes the hill at Yankee Stadium to make his major league debut. The 6’6 lefty from South Carolina has passed every test thrown his way to get to this point. Girardi made the right call to give the kid the fifth and final rotation spot, and call me crazy, but I’m a strong believer that he’s going to take this opportunity and run with it. So for those that don’t know much about Montgomery, let’s break him down a little.

Scouting Report: Montgomery pitches with a straight over the top delivery, throwing with the same arm slot on all four of his pitches, thus creating deception. His fastball generally clocks in at around 92-94 and can reach upwards of 96 mph. His other three pitches are his changeup, slider, and curveball. If there is a pitch he needs the most work on it’s his curve, but it’s still a useful tool in his arsenal. My favorite part about the young lefty is his impeccable command of all four pitches. You’ll rarely see Montgomery beat himself by allowing free base runners and that is a recipe for success. The phrase I keep hearing when describing Montgomery is stylish yet deceptive. His stuff won’t blow you away like James Kaprielian’s would (if ever healthy), but his four consistent pitches parlayed with an over the top delivery create a dangerous young pitcher.

Outlook: I’ve been a believer in Jordan’s stuff since he entered camp and emerged as a dark horse to win the final rotation spot. When neither Chad Green, Adam Warren, Luis Cessa, or Bryan Mitchell stepped up this spring, Montgomery seized the opportunity. With a rotation filled with inconsistency, I have hopes Gumby can rise the ranks quickly here if he can string together some quality outings out of the gate. As I’ve made this known, I have absolutely zero confidence in Luis Severino and I strongly believe Jordan can hope him as the #4. It all starts today against the Rays with Blake Snell taking the mound for Tampa. Montgomery faced the Rays on March 23rd in a start where he lasted 4.1 IP striking out 8 (Longoria twice) allowing two runs while walking none.

It would AWESOME if the Yanks could jump out to an early lead and give the youngster some breathing room, but we’ll have to see. I wonder if new call up, and now backup catcher, Kyle Higashioka, will get the start today seeing how he caught Jordan the last two years in the minors and clearly knows him better than Romine.

I’ll be live tweeting the whole game @ehubbs13 as I watch in the office as my fellow Bostonian co-workers give me death stares from afar. Maybe I’ll even do a live blog in here if things are going well. If he gives up 6 in the first I’ll probably just delete my twitter.

P.S. I need to hear Sterling’s home run call for Kyle Higashioka like I need air to breathe