Mason Montgomery Brings Unique Skill to Pirates Bullpen

1 week ago 2

The biggest move the Pittsburgh Pirates have made this offseason was acquiring Brandon Lowe from the Tampa Bays Rays.

The Pirates may have given up a promising pitcher in Mike Burrows, but they also got one back in the deal, too. One piece of that trade that might go under the radar is the Bucs also acquiring an intriting bullpen arm, mason Montgomery, in that deal.

Montgomery, 25, has only appeared in 66 games over the last two seasons, and there’s been a lot of good, and some clear areas that still need to be developed, too. The biggest bright spot on Montgomery’s game though is his elite velocity.

During the 2025 season with the Rays, Montgomery had an average fastball velocity of 98.7 mph, which ranked in the 97th percentile. His heater routinely reached into the triple-digits, which is incredibly rare for a left-handed pitcher like Montgomery.

Alex Stumof of MLB.com recently noted that the last lefty to record a higher fastball velocity of the course of the season was Aroldis Chapman, who is still widely viewed as one of the top closers in baseball at 37 years old because of how hard he throws.

Because of Montgomery’s elite fastball, he also had a chase-rate of 31.5 percent (83rd percentile), whiff-rate of 35.8 percent (97th percentile), and a strikeout rate of 30.1 percent (90th percentile).

The left-hander's velocity does come with some drawbacks, too. Montgomery has really struggled with his command through his first two big-league seasons. In 2025, he had a walk rate of 12.9 percent and still gave up some hard contact, too.

That’s not a dealbreaker for a pitcher of Montgomery’s skillset, but he will need to figure out a way to know when it’s time to dial it back to ensure he hits his spot.

Montgomery certainly brings something to Pittsburgh’s bullpen that they didn’t have last season, and something very few teams have in a hard-throwing lefty. That said, there is still some more work and development Montgomery must do before being considered a reliable option for the Pirates in high-leverage situations.

Read Entire Article