Jordan Montgomery to Make Diamondbacks Debut in San Francisco

The Diamondbacks' prized free agent signing will make his long-awaited debut Friday night against the San Francisco Giants.

Nov 1, 2023; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery (52) celebrates defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks to win the World Series in game five of the 2023 World Series at Chase Field / Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery will make his long-anticipated debut for the Diamondbacks Friday night against San Francisco, with first pitch scheduled for 7:15 PM Arizona time. The game will be streamed exclusively to Apple TV+, but you can click on this link for instructions on how to watch the game.

Montgomery signed a one-year, $25 million deal with the D-backs on March 29th. From that point, April 19th was the target date to get him in the major league rotation. In order to make room, they placed right-hander Ryne Nelson on the 15-day injured list as part of a series of roster moves.

He made two starts with Triple-A Reno, combining for 7 2/3 innings and throwing 60 and 71 pitches in those starts. Montgomery is not fully stretched out to handle a starter's workload, but the bullpen will be well-rested thanks to the strong pitching effort by fellow lefty Logan Allen last night.

Montgomery throws a sinker, curveball, slider, and a changeup. The curveball and changeup were very effective pitching with Reno and are key off-speed pitches. His velocity is down a couple of ticks compared to last season, with an average velocity of 91 MPH on the sinker in his Reno starts.

Opposing Montgomery is another member of the "Boras Four" in Blake Snell. Snell signed a two-year deal with the Giants, with an opt-out after 2024, but got lit up in his last start against Tampa Bay. The 31-year-old lefty has a 12.86 ERA in two starts this season but has a strong track record of success vs. Arizona. He is 5-1 with a 1.11 ERA in eight starts vs. the D-backs in his career, allowing no more than two runs and four of them being scoreless.

Starting Lineups

Starting lineups for the Arizona Diamondbacks (9-11) and San Francisco Giants (9-11) on April 19, 2024 at Oracle Park, San Francisco, California. / Michael McDermott

With two left-handers on the mound, both teams have loaded their lineup with right-handed bats. Kevin Newman gets the start at shortstop over Blaze Alexander, who will start as the designated hitter. Corbin Carroll and Michael Conforto are the lone left-handed hitters to start the game.

The D-backs need to get Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno's bats going. Both players are taking their walks, with a 13.6% and 14.0% walk rate respectively, but aren't hitting for a high average or slugging the ball. Carroll is slugging .293 and Moreno .327.

Alexander has handled lefties well to start his career. He's slashing .345/.406/.552 with two home runs in games started by a left-hander this season. The D-backs have enjoyed great numbers from the DH spot, in large part due to Alexander's offensive contributions.