As Opening Day for the Arizona Diamondbacks is under 24 hours away, they will reportedly not have their newest signing on the 40-man roster to begin the season.
Per AZCentral D’Backs beat writer Nick Piecoro, he posted on X (formerly Twitter) that LHP Jordan Montgomery will be starting in the minors.
“Montgomery is not expected to be included on the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day roster,” Piecoro said. “A source said he told the team he will agree to a minor league assignment to ramp up. Since he won’t be on the roster to start, he won’t be eligible to receive a qualifying offer after the season.”
Montgomery agreed to terms on a one-year, $25 million deal Tuesday night with a vesting player option for 2025, yet the deal hasn’t officially been finalized.
He was a fourth-round (122nd overall) pick by the New York Yankees in the 2014 MLB Draft. In his seven seasons in the MLB, he has played for the Yankees (2017-22), St. Louis Cardinals (2022-23) and Texas Rangers (2023).
Through 141 games (140 starts), Montgomery has accumulated a 38-34 record, 3.68 ERA and 705 strikeouts in 755.0 innings.
With no Spring Training reps, this will be the plan before Montgomery is eventually added to the 40-man roster. There is no set timeline of how long this stint will be, at the time of reporting.
As for now, the D’Backs’ starting rotation will be Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Tommy Henry, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson. Because of injury, Eduardo Rodríguez (lat strain) is on the injured list to start the season.
Stay tuned to Burn City Sports for every Arizona Diamondbacks update.
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