The way in which Jordan Montgomery sees it, the lifting of a number of burdens has helped him thrive with the Cardinals after being traded by the Yankees earlier than the deadline.
The southpaw now not has to cope with the strain of merely being a Yankee, nor does he have the Yankees telling him to not throw his fastball anymore.
“I used to be all the time nervous about getting booed off the mound in New York,” Montgomery stated lately on CC Sabathia’s and Ryan Ruocco’s “R2C2” podcast. “The pinstripes are heavy. Not everybody can deal with it. I really feel like I dealt with it OK. I might’ve been higher, however there was a variety of issues going into that I suppose. However right here [in St. Louis], I’m simply being myself and pitching the best way I need to. I suppose the followers have type of embraced me to this point.”
Montgomery, who’s scheduled to pitch Tuesday towards the Brewers in St. Louis, is 5-0 with a 1.45 ERA in seven begins with the Cardinals after going 3-3 with a 3.69 ERA in 21 begins with the Yankees earlier this season. The 29-year-old had a profession 3.94 ERA in 98 appearances (97 begins) as a Yankee.
His first begin as a Cardinal got here towards the Yankees in St. Louis, the place he threw 5 shutout innings in a 1-0 win. Six of his seven Cardinals begins have come at dwelling.
Montgomery stated the Yankees weren’t followers of his fastball, however now it’s turn into one in every of his strengths.
“I didn’t actually have a lot religion in my heater on the Yankees,” Montgomery stated. “I had been informed that it wasn’t that good in comparison with my different pitches and if I used to be gonna get hit, it was gonna be on a curveball or changeup, which isn’t how one can pitch.
“So if I bought two strikes on a man, he was in all probability auto-taking as a result of I used to be gonna throw a curveball or a changeup. He was making an attempt to simply foul a changeup off or see a curveball down. I’m throwing my fastball in two-strike counts, I’m throwing something in any depend now, so it’s positively opened up.”
Montgomery stated he would “completely” push again relating to his fastball utilization.
“However then I'd miss a spot and quit a homer as a result of I by no means threw my four-seamer in, so there was actually no constant really feel of it, and I’d leak center or I wouldn’t have any confidence in it,” he stated. “I’m pondering, ‘all proper, I’m throwing this not to surrender a success’ as an alternative of, ‘I’m gonna throw this and blow your doorways off.’ So now it’s only a complete totally different aggressive mindset the place I’m the man, I’m a canine on the mound and I’m simply coming proper after everyone.”
The Yankees did deal with Montgomery nicely, he stated, and he believed he was going to be a Yankee for all times.
“Once you come up homegrown they maintain you, and never everybody can pitch in Yankee Stadium,” Montgomery stated. “We traded for Sonny Grey and that didn’t work out nicely; we traded for Joey Gallo, that didn’t work out nicely. Once you commerce for somebody and so they pitch in New York, you by no means know the way it’s gonna work out. I type of felt secure and thought I used to be gonna be there ceaselessly, or a minimum of for a couple of extra years.”
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