Alas, a healthy Frankie Montas takes the mound at Yankee Stadium — just not in pinstripes.
His brief tenure as a Yankee was squandered because shoulder issues caused him to miss all of 2023 with the exception of one appearance.
Nearly two years after being acquired by the Yankees in a trade-deadline deal, Montas is working back up to his potential with steadily rising velocity, but his numbers aren’t quite there yet.
The Reds righty’s fastball is down 1 mph in contrast to when he was last healthy in 2022.
His primary pitch has always been his four-seam fastball, which saw its greatest success that season, when its putaway rate was over 3 percent higher than it is currently.
That was also the year Montas discovered a heightened confidence in his splitter.
He began defaulting to it as his secondary pitch and hitters gathered an average of .177 against it, according to Statcast.
But his splitter’s velocity is also down while he’s failed to strikeout batters with it by a decrease of over seven percent.
Montas eclipsed 10 Ks per nine innings in both 2020 and the shortened 2021 before regressing to the 7.2 he owns in 15 starts this season — a rate that’s inflated via two seven-plus strikeout outings versus the weaker likes of Colorado and Arizona, respectively.
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As the most frugal swinging lineup in MLB, the Yankees should be primed to put balls in play more times than not on Thursday afternoon against his below-average whiff rate.
THE PLAY: Frankie Montas Under 4.5 strikeouts (-110, BetMGM)
