Jordan Montgomery Details Major Issue Pitching for Yankees

The start of the 2022 MLB season marked Jordan Montgomery's sixth with the New York Yankees. He struggled at times though, eventually leading to his being moved at the trade deadline to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for outfielder Harrison Bader.

It turns out that the change in scenery is exactly what Montgomery needed. He's been much more efficient since joining the Cardinals and even figured out what the major issue was playing for the Yankees: his fastball use.

St. Louis Cardinals News

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reports that Montgomery has increased his fastball use since joining the Cardinals. He was only using his four-seamer on 8.5% of pitches in New York compared to a whopping 32% with the Cardinals.

A big reason for this major change is that the Cardinals are allowing the 29-year-old to throw out his preferred pitch. That's something that the Yankees refused to approve, according to Montgomery.

"I’ve got a good fastball. [The Cardinals] trust me here. The Yankees didn’t want me throwing fastballs."

- Jordan Montgomery

A pitching philosophy change has led to Montgomery going 5-0 in seven starts with the Cardinals. His 1.45 ERA is a significant improvement over the 3.69 ERA he had with the Yankees, while also averaging only 6.4 hits per nine innings pitched.

The Cardinals brought Montgomery in to add depth to the starting rotation, however, he's clearly proven to be more valuable than that. If he can keep burning opponents with his fastball, he'll be called upon to be an important piece on a potential St. Louis World Series run.

Cardinals World Series Odds

Montgomery's strong play over the last month and a bit has helped solidify the Cardinals' championship odds. For now, FanDuel Sportsbook has St. Louis available at +2200 odds (No. 7) to win the 2022 World Series this fall.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.