Trade Sweetener Rafael Montero has Become the Best Part of the Deal

Rafael Montero was part of a throw-in to help the Seattle Mariners acquire Abraham Toro in 2021. Now he's become the best part of that deal.

Author:
Ben Silver
Publish date:
Oct 31, 2022 6:30 PM EDT

In this story:

Houston Astros

Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler and Rafael Montero. That's how the New York Mets' rotation of the future was supposed to look.

Montero was signed an international free agent in January 2011 and quickly vaulted up prospect boards, peaking at No. 68 on Baseball America's top-100 prospects pre-2014. He had just made the Future's Game that year and pitched to a 2.78 ERA across 27 starts in the upper-minors.

Montero was destined for greatness from a young age.

Then reality struck.

Across 30 starts in four seasons with the Mets, Montero pitched to a 5.38 ERA, he never settled in, walking 5.2 batters per nine.

Slowly but surely, Montero began reinventing himself as a reliever. His first successful Major League came in 2019, but he never had the sample size to pair with good numbers.

Montero regressed again in 2020 and 2021, until it seemed the the flame of his Big League career had blown out.

Finally, he was added as a throw-in with Kendall Graveman in the deal that sent Abraham Toro and Joe Smith to Seattle.

For the first time in his career, Montero started the 2022 with the Houston Astros, one of baseball's best and biggest pitching factories.

Coming into the 2022 season, Montero relied far too heavily on his secondary pitches. The Astros added some spin rate to his four-seam fastball and took away some extension, making it a more formidable offering.

Now when Montero throws his change-up, it's a far more lethal pitch. Batters expect the fastball more often and have trouble catching up to it. So when the change-up arrives, it's devastating.

From a throw-in as part of a trade that included Graveman and Toro, Montero has become that most valuable part of that deal.

Montero has finally lived up to his high pedigree.

Now, the 32-year-old is pitching in the World Series with a confidence never before seen from him. And as he continues to dominant Philadelphia Phillies' bats, it doesn't look like that confidence will be leaving anytime soon.