Over the last year or so, it would seem the Mets have lost a little faith in Rafael Montero, one of their most spoken about pitching prospects over the last few years.
Throughout his minor league career, Montero had been labeled as a strike thrower and someone who could command four pitches: a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a slider, and a change-up.
But when he arrived in the big leagues last May, he did anything but throw strikes, and earned a quick demotion back to Triple-A by the end of the month.
He wasn’t seen again until August, when he was once again called upon to fill a void in the rotation. What the Mets saw was the guy they had been waiting for to blossom.
Montero was used both as a starter and as a reliever late last year, and allowed only three earned runs in 19 1/3 innings over his final five appearances. He was mostly an efficient and effective strike thrower outside of one outing against the Rockies on September 10, but he did not allow any runs to come across that day.
Still, with an overabundance of starting pitching ahead of him this spring, there was little room for him in the rotation.
So, the Mets began examining Montero as a right-handed reliever in spring training, believing his stuff could play well as a late-inning specialist.
But, he began pitching so well, he suddenly found himself in a competition for the fifth starter job with Dillon Gee over the final week of the season. Ultimately, he lost that race, but clearly, the Mets kept his performance in the back of their minds.
He could ultimately be in the starting rotation for the Mets, and he got a chance to show once again what he could do at the big league level on Tuesday.
He performed well despite allowing three runs and one walk in 5 2/3 innings. It should have been a better line – he was victimized by some poor defense all night long and just couldn’t escape it in the sixth inning.
“Very impressive,” Terry Collins said of Montero after the game. “Early in the game he had a little too many 3-2 counts, but he made the pitches when he needed to make them. But I thought he threw the ball very well tonight.”
His tempo was too slow early, which might have led to him falling behind the hitters initially. But, he picked up the pace nicely and got into a real nice rhythm beginning in the second inning.
The key for Montero was that he used all of his pitches on Tuesday. The Mets had been clear publicly about their displeasure with Montero and either his inability or unwillingness to use his entire repertoire out of the bullpen earlier this month.
Montero had great velocity with a ton of movement inside towards the Miami hitters with his two-seamer in particular. It was clearly a part of their game plan to work Miami inside, and he was effective using his two-seamer in and his slider out to keep Miami guessing.
Collins purposely started Anthony Recker on Tuesday to use as a tool to get Montero to use all of his pitches, considering he’s a veteran and very familiar with the Miami hitters.
“He knows the Marlins real well, and I think if there is one guy who would probably force Raffy to use all his stuff, it would be Reck,” Collins explained.
“The difference for me was I was hitting my spots tonight, different than other nights,” Montero said, according to Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. “I was more aggressive, and I was hitting my spots.”
It’s clear stamina is still an issue for Montero, as he hit a wall last night at around 80 pitches in the sixth. After the game, he was optioned back to Las Vegas, where he will likely work as a starter and continue to build his pitch count up.
As for where he fits going forward, it would seem the Mets feel more comfortable with Montero as a starting pitcher right now. He might have the stuff to be a late inning reliever, but it’s clear he had trouble adapting to relief conditions earlier in the month. That’s fine, but it’s also important the Mets stick to a plan with Montero, whether he fits long-term here or not.
For now anyway, Montero should be called upon to be a sixth man in the rotation in the near-term, at least while they wait for Steven Matz and/or Noah Syndergaard to get here. And, who knows – maybe he’ll eventually find himself as a permanent staple in the Mets rotation, regardless of Matz and Syndergaard.
There’s no question he still has work to do, but he is finally starting to show signs of the pitcher the Mets have expected him to become.
Just Mets 