Mason Montgomery: Pirates’ Pitching Project Has Huge Upside

With little more than one month until spring training begins at Pirate City in Bradenton, Florida, there’s much excitement about the addition of Mason Montgomery to Pittsburgh’s 2026 bullpen.

Reducing Montgomery’s ERA last season of 5.67 is likely to be front and center for the Pirates’ new pitching coach, Bill Murphy. The 63 strikeouts in 57 appearances collected last season are something to celebrate. This is what the Pirates hope will be repeated in the coming season.

According to one MLB insider who has been following Montgomery’s time with the Tampa Bay Rays, the club that drafted him in 2021 and with whom he made his debut in 2024, he was caught off guard by the trade.

“I was a little surprised they traded Mason because he has such potential as a two-pitch reliever. (Montgomery) has a legit fastball and a breaking ball. But he never found his command, and I’m not sure he knew how good he could be.”

When Montgomery was drafted by Tampa out of Texas Tech, he was in the starting rotation throughout his first four minor league seasons. From 2021-2024, Montgomery started 74 games. Along with his 15 wins generated, Montgomery has posted a career 5.01 ERA for Tampa’s affiliates and two tours on the big-league level.

“He (Montgomery) was a prospect as a starter that was disappointing. While starting, Montgomery’s fastball hit 92, with four pitches. As a reliever, his fastball jumped up to 100, and he has a sharp breaking ball. His stuff is incredible. If he gets confident and keeps his fastball at the top of the zone, Montgomery could be a star.”

When asked about the switch of going from being a starter to a relief specialist, Montgomery, during a recent Zoom conference with members of the Pirates’ media, labeled the change as the “best thing to have happened to me in my career so far.”

“In 2024, I hit a roadblock. Then, I opened my mind from going from a marathon to a sprint; throwing 33-30 pitches,” explains Montgomery of his expectations as a reliever. I’m open to trying new things. In the bullpen, you have to be ready at any time.”

Labeling the Pirates’ pitching staff as one of the better groups in the National League, Montgomery says that he believes there are a lot of people from whom he could learn. Although he experienced his first full MLB season in 2025 (Montgomery did appear in nine games for Triple-A Durham Bulls last season), the left-handed hurler hasn’t played a game in Pittsburgh’s home ballpark, PNC Park.

There will undoubtedly be an adjustment period for Montgomery once heading to Bradenton. There’s the acclimating with his new teammates, learning new hitters who he’ll be facing this coming season, going from throwing to predominantly American League clubs to now National League foes, and settling into a new MLB city for presumably a 162-game schedule.

Montgomery, 25, is still developing his skills. A fresh start with Pittsburgh could have been what the southpaw’s career needed to get to the next level of pitching dominance. This will be Montgomery’s fourth spring training with big-league clubs (2023-2025 with Tampa Bay), and possibly his most important.

The three-team trade that took place on December 19 between Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and Houston, on paper, appears to be a win-win for Montgomery and the Pirates.