Making his first start, and just his second appearance in 17 days, Rafael Montero was surprisingly sharp Saturday night versus the Astros. Despite having pitched just one inning in the long layoff, Montero came out and for the most part threw strikes and he allowed just one run. After getting hit hard in his first five starts in the majors, Montero closed the year with a grand flourish. In his final 18 IP as a starter, he allowed just 2 ER, 14 H, 8 BB and 19 Ks. That’s a 1.00 ERA and a 1.222 WHIP.

The Astros are not an offensive powerhouse but they do have two pretty good hitters. Jose Altuve is in a race for the batting title and Chris Carter leads the majors in homers since July 1, with 24 blasts. Against Montero, those two were a combined 0-for-6 with two strikeouts and a GDP.

Perhaps one of the best things about last night’s game for Montero was hearing some of the discussion in the booth between Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez. Without any equivocation, Cohen stated that Montero was a starting pitcher. It baffles me why so many are so eager to move him to the bullpen permanently. Hernandez, in his crotchety old man style, implored Montero to quit nibbling and to go after the guys who aren’t going to hurt you with the cheddar.

Let’s take a look at what got Hernandez so miffed. The Astros had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. Montero had a 2-2 count to Matt Dominguez, he of the .215 AVG. Montero had thrown a couple of good breaking balls and had him set up perfectly to climb the ladder with a chin-high fastball over the heart of the plate. Instead, here’s what he did:



He threw a fastball on a 2-2 pitch but instead of going upstairs, they were looking for paint on the outside corner. Then, it was another breaking ball on 3-2, again looking low and away. So many people are confused and/or frustrated wondering how Montero had this reputation for pinpoint control but comes to the majors and can’t throw consistent strikes.

No one can pretend that Montero showed the ability to put his pitches exactly where he wants them in his debut MLB season. But the big elephant in the room is the pitch calling of the catcher/pitching coach/manager. While Montero does not have the explosive fastball of Zack Wheeler, he hits 94 often enough. There’s no reason for him to nibble as much as he does.

The $64 million question is: Who’s calling for Montero to always go low and outside?

We’ve seen catchers look into the dugout numerous times this season to get a pitch from the bench. But for the most part, Saturday night it was catcher Anthony Recker who seemed to be the calling the majority of the pitches while Montero was in the game. Given Montero’s overall line last night, which included 6 Ks and 2 BB, it’s hard to get too down on Recker. But the walks came to back-to-back batters and both times the free pass happened when Montero failed to make a perfect pitch to the outside corner.

After the walk to Dominguez, here were the next three pitches with the bases loaded.



Again, these targets were all low and outside but Montero had success because he did not deliver one pitch to that area. Was this poor control or a conscious decision by Montero to attack? No doubt your answer will be shaped heavily by preconceived notions. The only thing we can say for sure is that success came in direct opposition of the game plan.

We’ve seen Montero take step one in his adjustment to MLB. After giving up 8 HR in his first 25 IP, he’s not allowed one homer in his last 19.1 IP for the Mets. In the first stretch he had a 6.12 ERA and in the latter span he checks in with a 1.40 ERA.

Now Montero needs to make the adjustment to trust his stuff and not nibble so much. But that’s an adjustment that needs to be made by others in the organization at least as much as Montero. Ultimately, the pitcher can shake off the catcher, so Montero is not free from blame here. But do you want a young guy shaking off his veteran catcher on a consistent basis? That seems like a bad idea.

Perhaps the ones who come up with the game plan for the pitcher are merely reacting to all of the homers Montero gave up early. If so, it’s hard to blame them too much. However, for Montero to take the next step, he’s going to have to be allowed to pitch to other areas besides low and away. There are hitters you want pitchers to be extra careful with and to miss low and away rather than belt high in the middle of the plate.

But there are many more hitters in the league that you want to attack. Hopefully the Mets allow Montero to do that next year as one of the five starting pitchers on the Opening Day roster. We’ve seen a glimpse of the dominating pitcher Montero can be, one that’s hopefully led everyone to be thirsty for more.

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