Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jordan Montgomery will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2025 MLB season.
Montgomery told reporters the news after he lost out on the team’s final starting rotation spot to right-hander Brandon Pfaadt. The decision came after the team tried to move the 32-year-old left-hander all winter. He was set to assume a long-relief role to begin the season.
“Kind of like a roller coaster,” Montgomery said Tuesday. “But I’m a believer, and I believe that everything happens for a reason and that my life is made for the good of me.”
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Montgomery is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $22.5 million this season. He had a forgettable 2024 season in which he made 25 starts with a 6.23 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and an opponents’ batting average of .312 in 117 innings pitched. The season led to Diamondbacks team owner Ken Kendrick calling Montgomery’s signing a “horrible decision.”
Trying to find a way into Arizona’s 2025 starting rotation, Montgomery failed to make his case during spring training, with a 15.00 ERA and 2.67 WHIP in three innings pitched.
“I was probably just trying to throw too hard too soon,” he said. “I was throwing bullpens really hard, and then get in a game and tense up trying to make the perfect pitch. That’s never good for your arm. I was throwing some pretty good stuff. It was there.”
The Diamondbacks won 89 games last season and missed the playoffs. The finish to their 2024 season played a role in how manager Torey Lovullo set up his team to begin the 2025 campaign, which included moving Montgomery to the bullpen.
“Every play that we run, every little inch we’re trying to win on the field, absolutely has a strategy to it, because we don’t want to miss any chances to win one more baseball game,” Lovullo said.
The Diamondbacks had been reportedly speaking to teams about Montgomery’s availability as recently as this week. Even as the lefty struggled, Lovullo still had hope the veteran pitcher would find his game again.
“I think you guys haven’t seen the best of Monty,” he said Sunday. “That’s my gut feel. I’m watching every bullpen. I’m watching all the things that he’s doing. He’s working his butt off.”
