For those of you die hard baseball fans, you may know who Mike Montgomery is and where he came from. For those of you that follow the game occasionally, let this writer tell you a little bit about Montgomery. If you are a Seattle Mariners fan, you already know.

Montgomery was selected number 36 overall by the Kansas City Royals in the 2008 MLB Draft out of William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, CA. At the end of his 2010 minor league season in the Arizona Fall League, he was averaging almost one strikeout per inning. Going into the 2011 and 2012 seasons, he was ranked the 19th and 23rd overall prospect by Baseball America.

Suddenly, Montgomery became unwanted in the Royals organization and he was trade to the Tampa Bay Rays on December 9, 2012. He was never able to make it to the major league level with the Rays after spending two years in the minor leagues. In his two years with the Rays, he compiled an overall record of 7-9 with a 4.83 ERA which was much better than his 2012 season with the Royals when he went 5-12 with a 6.07 ERA.

Entering into the 2015 MLB season, there wasn’t a clear direction for him in the Rays organization, so they traded him to the Mariners for Erasmo Ramirez. Not many in Seattle thought much of the trade besides the fact someone was willing to trade one of their players for Ramirez. Montgomery began his season with the Mariners AAA affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers. He posted a 4-3 record with an ERA of 3.74.

When the Mariners lost both James Paxton and Hisashi Iwakuma to the disabled list, Montgomery was called up to make his Major League debut on June 2, 2015. Most people may be intimidated making their first start against the New York Yankees. Montgomery was not as he went six innings and gave up one run, four hits and left with a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately for Montgomery and Mariners fans, the bullpen was not able to hold the lead and he ended up getting a no decision.

Five days later he pitched against his former club in the Rays. He went seven innings and gave up only two runs on five hits and he was saddled with his first loss as the Mariners lost 3-1. In his third start, he picked up his first win as an MLB player after going six innings, giving up one run and six in the Mariners 8-1 win. Five days later, he was not as fortunate as he lost, but once again he went deep into the game. He pitched seven and a third innings, giving up four runs on seven hits.

His best performance as a professional came on June 23rd when he faced the club that drafted him, in the Royals. He pitched a complete game shutout, giving up only four hits and striking out ten. He became the Mariners left hander to pitch a complete game shutout with ten stikeouts and no walks. Just five days later, he pitched even better against the San Diego Padres. He flirted with a no hitter until he gave up his first hit after one out in the seventh inning. He was able to get out of the inning and not allow another baserunner. In the end, he gave up one hit and struck out seven in nine innings of work.

Montgomery has been one of the few bright spots for the Mariners in what has so far been dreadful season that has them fourth in the AL West 9.5 games behind the first place Houston Astros. Seattle will have a decision to make once Paxton and Iwakuma come off the disabled list. Do they keep Montgomery on the roster and send another pitcher down or do they send him back to AAA and let him develop more?

If this writer had a say, you keep him on the roster. He hasn’t done anything wrong for him to get sent down. Not that you have to do anything wrong to be sent down as a lot of times it’s a numbers game, but he has to stay on the roster at any cost.  He is 2-2 with a 2.04 ERA with 35.1 innings pitched. He has only given up eight earned runs and has struck out 22 while walking eight. Let the man stay!

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Chris Blakely
Chris is an American sports journalist based out of Seattle, Washington. Co-Editor of the soccer section of VAVEL USA. He also is the leading editor of VAVEL USA's NWSL section.