Keider Montero Has Stepped Up When the Tigers Needed Him Most
Once again, Montero has stepped up and delivered exactly what Detroit has asked of him – and more.
The Detroit Tigers‘ two biggest additions came late in the offseason when they landed Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander to round out their rotation. Two proven veterans with a winning pedigree, World Series rings, and an ability to lift the rotation’s ceiling.
While these signings made sense regardless of team health, they were especially crucial considering Jackson Jobe would miss the majority of the season, while Troy Melton and Reese Olson also were delivered bad injury news around the time of the signings.
The pitching depth chart started to take shape, and Keider Montero was once again in limbo between Triple-A depth or bullpen help. A role that he’s become familiar with over the past two seasons. Then the injury bug came back with Verlander, Casey Mize, and Tarik Skubal all landing on the IL.
Suddenly, what looked like a relative strength turned into bullpen games and a struggle to find answers. Montero’s number was called upon early, and he has, once again, stepped up and delivered exactly what the Tigers have asked and more.
Montero’s Early Numbers
If you have followed the Tigers over the past two seasons, you have seen Montero have big moments. You have also seen him struggle. Slipping command and hanging a pitch nearly every game often led to a mostly good outing looking worse than it was.
However, this season has been much better. Even with his four-run outing last week, Montero has pitched to a 3.65 ERA and 3.84 FIP across his first eight starts. His outings are not filled with Pitching Ninja-esque highlights or seventh-inning strikeouts, but the improvements he’s made have allowed him to navigate lineups more effectively and give the Tigers valuable innings they desperately need.
Montero’s most important improvement, in my opinion, has been his command. He has lowered his walk rate from 3.08 BB/9 down to 2.03 BB/9. While this might not feel like a huge improvement, it can be drastic, especially for a player who often relies on contact to get outs.
Fewer runners on base means fewer groundballs that get through can lead to a run. And his command is not only leading to fewer walks, but also fewer home runs. Montero has dropped his home run-to-fly ball rate from 15% down to 6.8%. We are seeing fewer mistake pitches that catch too much of the plate and sour an outing. Have they been eliminated? Not quite, and that’s where the improvement still needs refining.
What we saw in Montero’s last start against the Mets is what we saw too often in the past. He works his way through a few innings only to allow a baserunner, followed by a pitch missing its spot and landing in the stands. Again, it is a work in progress that has not been perfect, but promising steps in the right direction are worth noting.
Where these improvements have shown up the most has been against lefties. Last season, lefties posted a .892 OPS against Montero, but he has slashed that number down to a .650 OPS to start this season. Handling lefties at a much better clip has taken the emphasis off almost having to get most righties out in order to avoid disasters as he navigates the lineup.
His changeup, which has held batters to a .077 average with no extra-base hits, has been a leader in neutralizing lefties. Yet, I think his fastball is just as responsible for the turnaround. He has used his four-seamer high in the zone to change eye levels and allow for his changeup to play up.
We aren’t seeing Montero go to one single pitch with two outs. He blew two high fastballs past Elly De La Cruz for strikeouts earlier this season before going to the changeup the third time facing De La Cruz, which also resulted in a strikeout.
It’s no secret that Montero’s stuff is not the best in the league. It’s effective and good enough for him to find success, but how he sequences his pitches to be unpredictable has been important.
Montero is not going to be an All-Star or single-handedly change the trajectory of the Tigers’ season, and that’s okay. They don’t need him to. What they need is for him to fill innings and keep the team afloat until more pitchers get healthy, and he’s doing just that.
Montero’s Importance
We have already talked about the injuries that have hit the Tigers. Jackson Jobe, Troy Melton, Casey Mize, Reese Olson, Tarik Skubal, and Justin Verlander have all been on the IL and would all likely be above or equal to Montero’s spot on the depth chart. You talk about a perfect storm, and the Tigers are in the eye of it.
Detroit has been forced to lean on bullpen games, or as they call it, pitching chaos, more than any of us would have thought this season. Without Montero, where would this team be? I doubt they could have added yet another bullpen game, which means someone like Bryan Sammons or Dylan File would have had to start games for the Tigers. Yikes.
The innings Montero has given this team have been valuable. Even more valuable when you consider the struggles of the few veterans holding a rotation spot during the past month. Framber Valdez has not been his usual self and even had another, let’s call it, *episode*, while Jack Flaherty has been a complete mess, struggling to get through four innings. Hell, the Tigers have lost the past six Flaherty outings.
If nothing else, Montero has given the Tigers a chance to win in each of his eight starts while filling valuable innings that would have exhausted the bullpen or been given to career minor leaguers. Of his eight starts, half have been at least six innings. Not perfect, but valuable.
Final Thoughts
I don’t say all of this to gaslight you into thinking Keider Montero is an excellent pitcher on the verge of breaking out to a new level. In a world where hot takes are in the driver’s seat and everything is amazing or horrible, we have lost the nuance of the in between.
Shining light on a player who has done whatever the organization has asked of him and delivered more times than not isn’t a sexy headline, but that’s a crucial role across 162 games. What happens from here on out? Who knows. But Montero deserves his flowers for what he has offered this team in their most injury-ridden times.
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