Jordan Montgomery is one of the best pitchers to take the mound for South Carolina baseball in recent memory. The big, 6’6” lefty pitched three years in Columbia before being picked by the New York Yankees in the 2014 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.
After a few years developing in the Minors, Montgomery made his Big League debut in 2017 and pitched for the Yankees until being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in the summer of 2022. Now one of the better starters for the Cardinals, Gumby threw a wicked curveball against the Pirates’ Ji Man Choi that resulted in one of the most ridiculous swings you’ll ever see.
Rob Friedman, the Pitching Ninja on Twitter, took notice.
https://twitter.com/pitchingninja/status/1646674031964221442?s=46&t=PZFkEJckOG9YU0YSKWk_VA
Choi was fooled so badly by the nasty breaking pitch that he lost control of his bat and threw it out to the pitcher’s mound. Montgomery dodged the projectile, and there seemed to be no ill intent from the Pirates’ big lefty DH, but it was quite an interesting sight, nonetheless.
Monty has pitched well in 2023 and is off to one of the best starts of his professional career as he is now 2-1 with an All-Star caliber 2.45 ERA. He has not allowed a single home run all season, and his WHIP sits just above 1.000 on the year. He had a very good 2022 season and seems to be building off of that success. If he can keep up this level of play, Montgomery will likely have his name called to participate in the Mid-Summer Classic when the All-Star Game is played in Seattle in July.
During his Gamecock career, Montgomery was one of the best starting pitchers in the SEC and pitched for the 2012 national runner-up Gamecocks who lost a potential third-straight College World Series title to the Arizona Wildcats.