Rangers World Series Star May Be Rounding into Form as Reliever

The Texas Rangers unloaded offensively on the Chicago White Sox on Monday. They won, 11-2.

That included home runs from Jake Burger and Wyatt Langford, extra-base hits by four other players and three RBI from Corey Seager, who had two doubles. It was the kind of offensive explosion that has been in short supply this season.

Amid all the scoring, it would be hard to miss the fact that left-hander Jordan Montgomery posted his second strong outing since his bumpy re-entry coming off the injured list. It's a performance that's noteworthy given the Rangers situation in the rotation.

Jordan Montgomery Looks Strong Again

Texas Rangers pitcher Jordan Montgomery throws a baseball to a hitter during a game. — Texas Rangers pitcher Jordan Montgomery. Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

When the Rangers activated Montgomery earlier this month from the 60-day injured list, it was noteworthy that they decided to drop him in as a reliever. Texas signed him in the offseason expecting him to move into the starting rotation once he was healthy and recovered from Tommy John surgery which he had before the 2025 season.

Texas felt left-hander Cody Bradford was performing better in his rehab assignment and Bradford's performance in the rotation has proven them right.

Plus, Montgomery didn’t get off to a great start in the bullpen. In his debut on Aug. 9 against Baltimore, he gave up six hits and three earned runs in four innings of mop-up duty. When he pitched again on Aug. 13 against the Los Angeles Angels, he gave up six hits and four earned runs in two innings.

Six days later, something changed. Against Washington on Aug. 19, he pitched two innings and only allowed a hit. He struck out two and walked nine. On Monday against the White Sox, he pitched two more innings. He didn’t allow a hit, a run or a walk and struck out two with an efficient 23 pitches.

Even if the Rangers choose to keep Montgomery in the bullpen, this is a good development. Texas needs an effective long reliever and if Montgomery can pitch like this more often, then he becomes that weapon.

But with both Jack Leiter and Nathan Eovaldi on the injured list — and no significant update on Eovaldi as he deals with elbow inflammation — the Rangers are handling starting pitching on a series-by-series basis.

A couple more outings like Monday could land Montgomery a spot in the rotation over someone like Kumar Rocker, who has struggled of late but gave the Rangers a solid performance on Monday.

Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young has a “more pitching the better” philosophy and if Montgomery becomes a high performer again, that gives Texas a significant boost as they head into their final 30 games of the season.

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