Ever since joining the St. Louis Cardinals, left-hander Jordan Montgomery has been a completely different pitcher from when he was with the New York Yankees.
Last night was proof enough of that, as Montgomery threw a one-hit, complete-game shutout against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Home run No. 693 for Albert Pujols was all the lefty needed to subdue the Cubs.
But what changed for Montgomery?
Why is he all of the sudden dominant with the Cardinals?
Katie Woo of The Athletic may have the answer.
When Montgomery was pitching in New York, he threw his four-seam fastball only 8.5% of the time.
With St. Louis, he has gone to it 30% of the time, thanks to Yadier Molina recognizing the pitch as a significant weapon.
This stat from @MLBNetwork on Jordan Montgomery's four-seamer usage:
In 21 starts for NYY, Montgomery went to his four-seamer 8.5% of the time.
With STL? 30% of the time.
How Yadi Molina recognized Montgomery's FB as a weapon: https://t.co/EmsjxVZXeLhttps://t.co/EmsjxVZXeL https://t.co/Gjf1kUbBuk
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) August 23, 2022
A Change Of Scenery
Sometimes, a change of scenery can help a guy.
Going to St. Louis and working with Molina, who has undoubtedly been the best catcher in baseball over the last two decades, can help too.
Molina is a guy who always invests time into learning about his pitchers and picking apart everything in order to formulate the right game plan with them.
Clearly, Molina saw something in Montgomery that he could help the left-hander exploit.
In four starts as a Cardinal, Montgomery has won every game and has allowed just one run over those four starts.
He’s been on a crazy run since joining the Cardinals, one that could land him a Game 1 start in the postseason if he keeps it up.
But it’s clear that he and Molina work well together as a battery and have a good game plan each time Montgomery pitches.
It’s also clear that that game plan is working quite well.
