It wasn’t that long ago that the Yankees, in the middle of Aaron Judge’s historic home run season, traded for Frankie Montas in the hopes of bolstering their rotation for a long October run.
The Yankees reached the ALCS in that 2022 season, but with little help from Montas, who was bothered by a shoulder injury that eventually led to surgery that cost him nearly all of the 2023 season.
He’s yet to return to the form he showed prior to the injury, when he allowed just 7.8 hits per nine innings over 19 starts during the first half of ’22 with the A’s.
But several scouts and executives around MLB on Tuesday said they believe Montas showed positive signs with the Brewers during the latter part of last season and that being teamed with Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner could help the 31-year-old get back to similar heights.
Most importantly, though, the same scouts and execs all noted that the Mets aren’t necessarily looking for Montas to be a No. 2 starter behind Kodai Senga and that he is well suited to exceeding expectations after agreeing to a two-year, $34 million deal that is being widely compared to the contracts David Stearns and Co. gave Sean Manaea and Luis Severino last offseason.
“When he’s healthy and the team is good, I’ll take my chances with him,’’ one exec said Tuesday. “He’s a smart pitcher and being paired with Hefner is going to be good.”
Montas, at this point, looks to join a rotation that includes Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Paul Blackburn.
Montas was shaky with the Reds early last year and pitched better as the season went on — and as he got further removed from the shoulder surgery he underwent in 2023.
He tinkered with his arm slot last year, which Manaea did last season with the Mets to significant success, as Manaea bounced back after two subpar seasons with a strong one in Queens.
Two encouraging signs stood out following Montas’ move from Cincinnati to Milwaukee: His hit rate decreased sharply and his strikeout rate jumped up.
“Those were things that made him stand out when he was in Oakland,’’ one scout said. “He was hard to hit. That’s what he looked like the last couple months last year.”
And with the Mets and Hefner fresh off rehabilitating the careers of Manaea and Severino, Montas appears poised to be the next reclamation project.
The Mets weren’t able to get a similar turnaround out of Adrian Houser, who was released in July after arriving in a trade from the Brewers last offseason, but scouts have pointed to Montas’ previous success as cause for optimism.
“He pitched 150 innings last year and I expect his command to be better, just because I think he was still getting himself back to normal,’’ one AL scout said. “If there’s something left in the tank, and there almost definitely is, I expect them to get it out of him.”