Jordan Montgomery Is a Ground-Ball Machine the A's Can Afford

The Athletics will be searching far and wide for pitching this winter, and with a new president of baseball operations Taylor Smith at the controls, the team may be looking to get creative in how to find arms to add to the roster.

One arm that could be appealing for the club will be left-hander Jordan Montgomery, most recently with the Texas Rangers. The 33-year-old veteran underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025 and missed that entire season, plus most of the 2026 campaign, ultimately returning to the Rangers' roster in August. 

Montgomery made 13 appearances out of the bullpen, tallying a 4.15 ERA (3.87 FIP) across 26 innings. His velocity was down a tick or two across the board, leaving his four-seamer to average 90.4 miles per hour. 

There will presumably be some velocity bounce-back as he continues his recovery. The key reasons that he'd be a fit with the A's are that he would be a cheap option with some decent built-in upside, and that he held an elite 55.8% ground-ball rate in those 26 innings. 

Montgomery has a career 43.7% ground-ball rate, which would still be a dramatic improvement for the A's staff, which ranked last in GB% at 38%. Given the team's hitter-friendly environment in Sacramento, keeping the ball on the ground will aid them in keeping the ball in the ballpark more often. 

The lefty also holds a career 6.8% walk rate, but his rate this past season sat at just 5.8%, giving him one of the main skills the A's should still be chasing this winter, even with Smith now in charge.

Toward the end of the season, manager Mark Kotsay pointed to the Chicago Cubs' ability to limit walks as a reason they were in the postseason despite surrendering the second-most home runs in MLB, while the A's, who gave up the most home runs, were set to finish at 64-98.

Limiting walks is one way to keep those extra runs off the board. 

Spotrac has Montgomery's market value at $2.77 million entering the offseason, which makes him extremely affordable, if that projection holds true. The A's could use him as a long reliever in the bullpen, giving them another key left-hander, or they could have him as a depth option for the rotation. 

For a depth option, it may be better for the A's if he agreed to a minor-league deal — which wouldn't necessarily help their case to sign him. The pitch to Montgomery here would be that since he wouldn't be on the 40-man roster, he'd be able to have a normal offseason and get ready for a regular season start time, just in the minor leagues. 

If the expected lockout lasts for a couple of months into the expected start of the MLB regular season, Montgomery will already have had as many as eight starts pitching in Triple-A games to get himself stretched out for a run at the A's roster. If the MLB season were canceled, his year wouldn't be wasted, either, as he would have spent it rebuilding his value for his next contract. 

This could be an appealing path, because for a player coming off injury, having to navigate when to ramp up for the season adds another hurdle to clear. Given that this next contract likely will be a prove-it one-year deal, starting in the minors may actually be a decent plan for Montgomery to in fact prove it, while earning a larger deal for 2028 would be the ultimate goal. 

The 2027 season is about finding an opportunity and seizing it. 

Entering his age-34 season, he's looking at maybe one more decent-sized contract in his career, and an incentive-laden minor-league deal may be the way to go. The A's need pitching, and if Montgomery is performing, there would be space for him to go earn his contract for 2028. 

Plus, if the A's remain out of contention, they would be able to have a trade piece at the deadline.