A move from the starting rotation to the bullpen reignited Mason Montgomery’s career, serving as a flip of the switch on a pitch that turned the 25-year-old left-hander into a dangerous pitcher.
Montgomery was struggling as a starter at Triple-A Durham in 2024 when the Tampa Bay Rays turned him into a reliever, allowing his fastball to flourish to where it now touches triple digits.
Not that Montgomery immediately embraced the change. But the results were convincing. He went from an 8.16 ERA and .344 batting average against as a starter to not allowing an earned run while striking out 21 batters over his final 10⅓ innings to prompt a promotion.
“The initial reaction was indifferent. I wasn’t for or against it. I think it was just something that was new and I didn’t know how to tackle it,” Montgomery said Tuesday afternoon on a video conference call. “I luckily settled in pretty quickly and had some success early on in that relieving role in Triple-A. Ultimately got to debut and spend the last three to four weeks in Tampa. It’s pretty clear that’s probably the best thing that has happened to me as far as my career has gone.”
Montgomery is hoping that the best is yet to come now that he has joined the Pirates, who also acquired two-time All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe and outfielder Jake Mangum in exchange in a three-team trade that sent right-hander Mike Burrows to the Houston Astros.
While the spotlight is on the Pirates for Brandon Lowe, and Jake Magnum, don’t leave out Mason Montgomery. Although he struggled in late relief with the Rays in 2025, his upside could make him a dominant set-up or even a potential closer with Pittsburgh.
Mason Montgomery throws… pic.twitter.com/gvT2p78lCz
— TheBaseballReport (@BaseballReport_) December 19, 2025
Where Montgomery saw his fastball velocity increase from the 93-94 mph range as a starter to 96-98 mph out of the bullpen, he also sharpened his slider and boosted its velo from 82-84 mph to 88-90 mph. That taught him to embrace the relief role.
When Montgomery pitched against the Pirates on April 1, he touched triple digits for the first time in his career by topping 100 mph five times in striking out the side in the ninth inning of a 7-0 win.
“The velo jump from the end of the ’24 season to ’25 — even though it wasn’t as big as the starting to relieving jump — but I think that was just the result of knowing what my job was going to be in the next year,” Montgomery said. “Just putting the work in in the offseason, getting stronger, training the arm and trying to get everything I could out of my body.”
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That’s why Pirates general manager Ben Cherington is willing to overlook some of Montgomery’s unsightly numbers from last season — 1-3 with a 5.67 ERA — in hopes that new pitching coaches Bill Murphy and Thomas Whitsett can unlock his potential.
“We think the underlying stuff was better than the surface ERA,” Cherington said, calling Montgomery “someone we think we can really grow with.”
Lowe raved about the movement on Montgomery’s heater, which averages 98.7 mph (second only to Aroldis Chapman among lefties) and has 18.5 inches of vertical break, per Statcast.
“I don’t know if you guys have done your research on it, but I mean, 20-plus inches of carry is legit,” Lowe said. “Being somebody that’s had to face those kind of metrics before, I don’t understand how he ever gives up a hit.”
Montgomery’s 12.9% walk rate is a greater concern, though his strikeout (30.1%) and whiff (35.8%) rates rank among the top 10% in baseball. The Pirates are hoping to harness Montgomery’s stuff, and he’s adjusting his approach to “calmly attack” and work favorable counts.
“I want to keep my mind and my breathing calm but, at the end of the day, my goal is to attack the hitter,” Montgomery said. “My whole philosophy is just getting ahead and then throwing a good pitch with two strikes.”
Montgomery believes the change from starter to reliever helped him escape a road block in which he was seeking out success only to find failure.
“Whenever I moved to the bullpen, it opened up my mind,” Montgomery said. “It changed my mindset a little bit from a marathon mentality to a sprint. Like, ‘Hey, I’m going to go out there and I’m going to have 25-30 pitches, so let’s just give it all you got for 30 pitches.’ There is no need to make your arm last or work around guys or whatever it might have been.”
Montgomery adds another much-needed lefty to the Pirates’ bullpen, joining a veteran in free-agent addition Gregory Soto and rookies Hunter Barco and Evan Sisk. Although his stuff projects as high-leverage, Montgomery has pitched in every inning except the first in the majors and knows his role is still to be determined.
“It’s just part of being a reliever,” Montgomery said. “You have to be ready at any time. Any moment in any game I’ll be ready for.”
