Should Mason Montgomery Be the Pirates’ Closer?

The Pirates would have found a lot of different ways to lose that game on Sunday.

They got a pretty good start from Braxton Ashcraft, they got some offensive support, and then the bullpen just lets it go.

And you know what, Camilo Doval, not his sharpest, needs help to get out of the inning, but the Pirates have a one-two punch at the end of Luke Weaver and Mason Montgomery.

They're able to get the final six outs and a win.

It could be a blueprint for how they play next year.

Those two guys are who you go to at the end.

It has struck me, though, that we've seen Montgomery a lot more in the ninth, and I'm wondering, do you just name him the closer?

Good morning, and welcome to OffBeat, here on North Shore Nine, presented by FanDuel.

My name is Alex Stumpf, and this is a daily look at your Pittsburgh Pirates.

Mason Montgomery was not the headliner whenever the Pirates acquired him this winter.

It was the Mike Burroughs deal, and honestly, of the three players, he might have had the least amount of buzz around him whenever he was acquired.

Because Brandon Law was obviously number one.

Here's a big power hitting, second baseman, Pirates needed a lefty infielder with Pop.

He delivers it in spades.

It's like, there you go.

That is exactly what this team needs.

And then you've got Mangum, who was also something this team needed at the time.

They hadn't made the Ryan O'Hearn signing, and all we knew was this outfield was bad.

And we didn't know what the future held for Oneil Cruz.

Bryan Reynolds had a bad year defensively, and also offensively.

so there was like a lot of apprehension of what the future held there.

Yeah, they acquired Jhostynxon Garcia, but like, this is a safer bet.

This is someone who could be on the major league roster.

And again, Mangum has had a good year.

I think it's probably fair to call him like he is.

He is like either a third or fourth outfielder, but he has done very well in that role this year.

And then you had Montgomery, who did not have a good ERA.

Had a rough year.

And yeah, he threw hard.

But there's that, your spidey sense starts to tingle.

It's like, why are the Rays giving up on a lefty who throws this hard?

Yeah, they always have a roster crunch going.

Yeah, there's obviously some talent there.

But you could see why the Rays maybe are like, we can use this roster spot differently.

We can either bolster the major league roster, or we could find a way to acquire more prospects and set us up for the future even more.

So they ended up partnering with him.

And for the first couple months of the year, Montgomery was a wild card in that bullpen.

Someone who we saw blow up a couple times.

Someone who obviously had the arm talent, but wasn't that consistent.

And it's why we probably saw him more as an opener to start the year, those first couple months, than we did as a leverage arm in the eighth or ninth, trying to protect a lead.

He just continued to keep chipping away, and he has been pretty unhittable of late.

And that includes Sunday, where he just comes in, delivers a 1-2-3 inning, and he's just pounding sinkers.

That's a new pitch for him.

It's been more of a game changer than I thought.

I will admit, whenever he started throwing in, I'm like, your game is whiffs.

Your game is strikeouts.

What are you trying to do here?

Yeah, he's still getting those.

He is still getting those.

And I think part of it is he's willing to use the whole zone with the sinker.

There's almost, it seems like there's that, yeah, just throw it in the zone anywhere.

It's going to be biting down.

Just get the strike.

And it's a little video gamey.

it's like playing MOB the show.

If you're pounding sinkers in the upper part of the zone, just that entire eye level of like, this doesn't look like a strike, and then it just drops in.

It's nasty.

Nasty to do that at 98, 99, 100 miles per hour.

So I think the way that he uses it does make it a weapon.

Even when you look at the rest of his pitch mix, it's like, okay, well, the slider is going to probably play better.

Well, he's leaned more to the curveball as his breaking pitch.

And honestly, really, it's been just fastballs.

In the month of August, he's still in a sinker 52.6% of the time, and the four-seamer 27.3% of the time.

That's 80% of his pitches that are fastballs.

Over half of his pitchers are sinkers.

On Sunday, 11 pitches, eight were sinkers.

He is just challenging you with a fastball.

And you know what?

Whenever you throw 99, 100, yeah.

It was the walks last year that got him.

Just throw it in the zone.

See what happens.

See if they can hit you.

Teams haven't been able to show that.

He has been outstanding in the month of August.

And I know there is that mindset of like, yeah, he's having a really good month and you're thinking about the ninth inning.

What a coincidence.

But it's a really good month.

Pulled it up here.

He is not allowed a run throughout August.

10 and two-thirds innings across 11 appearances, permitting four hits and one walk with 20 strikeouts and five saves.

Don Kelly will deny if he has a closer.

But if you have five saves in a month, that's 30 on the year.

I would argue you have at least an unofficial closer there.

Yeah, and in a perfect world.

The way that Don Kelly wants to use the bullpen of like, hey, if there are a lot of left-handers in the eighth, go to Montgomery.

See if he can get out of that jam.

And I expect we'll still see some of that.

It's a luxury you have whenever you have Luke Weaver, who himself is a top 20 relief pitcher in the game, in my opinion.

whenever you have that guy who's willing to pitch the eighth or ninth or whatever role, really.

That makes it a lot easier.

But what Montgomery has been doing of late, it's...

I don't want to call it a charade, whatever.

Like, it really does look like Montgomery just should be the guy.

And we'll see.

And, but I look at Sunday.

Mason Montgomery faced three batters.

The top of the lineup.

And it starts off with the right-hander, Baez.

Then even Herrera.

And then Alec Burleson, the one lefty.

But if anyone gets on base, you know who's up.

The all-star Jordan Walker.

Representing the winning run.

And he's right-handed.

I...

Can't really buy that was 100% matchup.

I, it's really...

If it is, you are really putting a lot of eggs in your basket of, like, my left-handed reliever will not face one of the game's best right-handed power hitters this year.

And even if he did, I still like Montgomery in that matchup.

The way that he's been able to throw his sinker to all four quadrants is something that we haven't really seen from a pirate.

Honestly, time covering, the only time that I really saw a pitcher start to lean into, let's see what happens if you throw sinkers up, was 2023 spring training JT Brubaker.

And if you look at 2023 spring training JT Brubaker, he was a problem.

And then he had the Tommy John.

it was unfortunate, but it's, it was, I remember in 2023 thinking, like, could Brubaker be unlocking something?

Is this a cheat code?

And with respect to JT Brubaker, who is with the Giants, who is having a fine major league career, it looks like it's back on track after those injuries.

It's not a Mesa Montgomery sinker.

I don't know if Montgomery sinker is actually that great of a pitch in terms of movement, in terms of its profile.

I think it's a great pitch because it's coming from a great pitcher.

If he can just deliver it as a strike, see what the other team can do with it.

Yeah.

In the perfect world, you'd have this guy always at the ready in your bullpen.

That whenever you ever see a patch of like two or three lefties in like a four batter stretch, it's like, you know what, this might be it.

This might be whenever we use him, we are going to maximize what he can do.

I get that, but I don't think he needs protected.

I think he's just at a spot right now that you let him face the right-handers.

You treat him like he is your best reliever.

Because there's a case to be made that he is.

And you know what?

If I'm wrong, find out in September of 2026.

If he can't handle the ninth inning and just throw his games away, these games don't mean a whole lot whenever your, playoff odds are, what, 1%?

See what he can do in this role.

Because Luke Weaver is, was an incredible add for this team.

I think he will play dividends for the 2027 Pirates.

But he's also under contract for just one more year.

I don't know if you can really count on him being part of the 2028 team.

You can with Mason Montgomery.

I remember whenever the Pirates acquired David Bednar in 2021, he didn't get his first save until August of that year.

And that was a different year.

Because Richard Rodriguez was a pretty decent closer for the first four months of the year.

And then whenever they traded him, they went to the veteran Stratton, who was a clubhouse leader, someone that you respected.

I got the move.

I understood it.

But even in 2022, spring training, there were a lot of people who were like, yeah, it should be Bednar.

He should just have the ninth.

And it wasn't until Stratton really started to struggle that they just gave the job to Bednar.

And it worked out.

Bednar had a great Pirates career.

Two-time All-Star, 100 saves.

He did a lot of things great.

There's a reason why we're going to remember him for years to come.

But here they are in a very similar spot, again with Montgomery.

You have this young reliever who was acquired in a trade after a disappointing rookie season where, yeah, he throws hard.

And there are some pitch qualities you like.

But in a pitcher-friendly environment, he did not have a good year.

And he's a throw-in on a big trade.

And then he emerges.

It took two years, really.

Over a year and a half.

For David Bednar to be the capital C closer where he probably could have been in May of 2021.

I get that.

That was also a rebuilding club that didn't have a whole lot to do.

And if you want to be cynical, saves are a lot more expensive in arbitration.

But here they are.

This is a team that's competing.

And you have this incredible, lively, lefty arm.

Why don't you just maximize it?

He's got the entrance video at PNC Park.

You can't tell me not everybody's thinking it.

Look what he did to the Cardinals.

Look what he did this month.

There's a lot of good stuff that he's doing right now.

And I would not mind seeing him in a glorified closer role.

If it comes to a spot, yeah, like I said, if you need the lefty in a big lefty spot, go ahead and do it.

I would speculate that's probably part of the calculus here.

But that's also managing for got to make the playoffs in 2026.

I don't see that as a real possibility anymore.

Set yourself up for 2027.

And a great way to do that is to know that the ninth inning is taken care of.

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