Cubs
New baseballs are more like golf balls, which has affected Montgomery, among others
Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown is featured prominently, as are curveball maestros Sandy Koufax, Bert Blyleven, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.
The first pitcher examined, though, is none other than the Cubs’ Mike Montgomery. His 0-1 yakker to the Indians’ Michael Martinez was the
“He interviewed me after the World Series and then I kind of forgot about it,” Montgomery said. “I read that part and saw the first (pitcher) was me. Awesome. Pretty incredible.”
What’s even more incredible is that in the space between Montgomery earning his first career save and this week’s All-Star break, his curveball has changed.
“Mine is not the same as it was in 2016,” he said. “A lot of it is due to the change in the baseball.”
Nearly half of the teams in the majors are
“There’s no getting around it; it’s absolutely true,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Sunday. “I was on the mound the other day with two (baseballs) and one felt smaller than the other. I asked the guys to check it out. You can see it in the way the balls have been flying. They could easily have stamped ‘Titleist’ on the side.”
Several of Maddon’s pitchers, including Montgomery, have mentioned tinkering with their grips on breaking balls because of the lower seams.
“I’m moving toward sliders because with lower seams, you can’t get that same vertical break,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery said the change in the shape of the ball makes it harder to throw a 12-to-6 curveball, the kind that drops from a batter’s chest to his knees.
“Pitchers have been making adjustments with their grips,” Maddon said. “It’s not just him.”
Like the Cubs, Montgomery has not had an easy time of it this season. He gave up at least a run in three of his first four outings and then missed a month with a left lat strain. He got his ERA down to 4.26 but has been dinged in his last three outings and reached the All-Star break at 5.67.
The Pirates’ Adam Frazier took him deep last week on a 1-2 curveball on the inner half that Montgomery thought would produce an out. Instead it reached the first row of the seats in right.
“I thought it was a popup,” Montgomery said. “It was the pitch I was trying to make, and I threw it where I wanted to.
“If those are the kind of balls that are home runs now, I have to adjust with it. The hitters know that home runs are going to be easy to come by. I’ve got to pitch more to the top of the zone.”
Montgomery, 30, said the challenge of adapting is the “fun part” of the game.
Perhaps not as much fun as what transpired after the Cubs won Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. Montgomery and wife Stephanie wisely stuck around Chicago in the aftermath, eating their way through the city.
Cubs fans would spot them at locales such as Chicago Cut, Bandera and Sunda and buy them drinks or pay for their meals. A few took it further, naming their kids “Montgomery.”
Mike and Stephanie learned of it from handwritten letters and on Twitter.
“Wow, I was just throwing a ball and the next thing someone names their kid after you,” he said. “What the heck is going on? It was a surreal experience. Cubs fans have been awesome and this city is such a special place for me.
“But it seems a long time ago. We’re in it, we’re grinding and things haven’t been as easy for us and me personally.”
Asked if he feels his legacy is secure, Montgomery replied: “I can’t rest on that moment. The accomplishments are there, you can’t take them away, but guys who have been in this game a long time are never satisfied. And then when you’re done, you can go back and look.
“Go as hard as you can as long as you can and then look back when you’re done and enjoy some of those accomplishments. When you’re in it, it’s such a short window. Put the blinders on.”
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