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TAMPA — For Jordan Montgomery’s fastball, less can be more.
The Yankees left-hander has been focused on his fastball command this spring, especially after he struggled to corral it in his Grapefruit League debut. Though he felt better about it Friday, as he made what might have been his final tuneup before the regular season begins, he still has to catch himself every now and then.
“Sometimes I try and throw it too hard and it leaks [into the] middle [of the plate],” Montgomery said. “These guys are such good hitters, 95 [mph] they still hit it even if it’s middle. So I’d rather it be 92 and in there. Just being a little more patient and getting it in there.”
Montgomery, who is coming off his best season in the big leagues with a 3.83 ERA across 157 ¹/₃ innings, did a solid job of missing bats on Friday at Steinbrenner Field. He threw live batting practice against a lineup that was highlighted by Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson.
Though he didn’t see real game action as he built up to about 60 pitches over the equivalent of four innings, Montgomery’s teammates still served up a stiff challenge.
“Two MVPs, a Rookie of the Year — pretty good guys I saw six or seven times,” said Montgomery, whose outing included strikeouts of Judge and Donaldson. “Especially when you see guys that much, it’s pretty good when you have a good outing.”
His catcher liked what he saw.
“He looked good, driving the four-seam in [and] his sinker was pretty ferocious later on,” Ben Rortvedt said. “He was commanding the zone really well.”
Montgomery is scheduled to start the opening series’ finale against the Red Sox on April 10, so he could either throw an inning or two in Tuesday’s exhibition before the Yankees leave Tampa or add an extra bullpen session between starts. Though Montgomery isn’t where he normally would be in terms of workload at this point on the calendar, thanks to the shortened spring training, he believes he is ready for the real thing.
“I’ve been trying to take every game as serious as I can, especially today facing all of our guys,” he said. “Especially that early [11:30 a.m.], it’s easy to take the excuse and be like, ‘Oh, well I’m facing my guys and it’s early.’ I tried to lock it in and treat today like it was a game. I’m happy with how it went.”
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