Pirates' bold trade steal is quickly making fans forget his brutal start

When the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum and Mason Montgomery from the Tampa Bay Rays over the winter, most of the attention naturally centered around the proven major league pieces.

Lowe was the established power bat. Mangum quickly became a fan favorite. Montgomery felt more like the “upside” arm included in the deal — the kind of throw-in prospect fans talk themselves into because of velocity and strikeout numbers.

But a little over a month into the season, Montgomery is starting to look like something far more important. In fact, the Pirates may have quietly stolen a legitimate bullpen weapon.

It certainly didn’t look that way at first. Montgomery’s early appearances in Pittsburgh were rough enough to make fans wonder if the Pirates had simply inherited the same frustratingly inconsistent reliever the Rays dealt away. Through his first five outings, the hard-throwing left-hander carried an ugly 9.64 ERA and a bloated 2.36 WHIP. Most of the damage came on Opening Day against the New York Mets, when an early exit by Paul Skenes caused unexpected strain on the bullpen.

For Pirates fans already conditioned to distrust bullpen experiments, patience was understandably wearing thin. But something changed — and over his last 10 appearances, Montgomery has looked almost unhittable. He has allowed zero earned runs and posted a 0.96 WHIP with better command, cleaner mechanics and more confidence attacking hitters.

Suddenly, the exact traits that made him so intriguing in Tampa Bay are showing up consistently in Pittsburgh.

Mason Montgomery gives Pirates rare bullpen win nobody saw coming

With Montgomery, the raw stuff was never the issue. Even during his rocky rookie season with the Rays in 2025, Montgomery’s underlying numbers practically screamed “buy low candidate.” Yes, the surface stats looked ugly — a 5.67 ERA and 1.65 WHIP across 46 innings — but the advanced metrics painted a completely different picture. He struck out more than 30% of opposing hitters and generated whiffs at an elite 97th-percentile rate.

The Pirates clearly believed they could clean up the command just enough to unlock everything else. Right now, it looks like they may have been right.

What makes Montgomery especially valuable is how unique he is inside Pittsburgh’s bullpen. Left-handed relievers who can miss bats at that level are incredibly difficult to find, and the Pirates suddenly have one capable of neutralizing dangerous pockets of opposing lineups late in games. That changes the shape of the bullpen entirely.

Montgomery has been effective in a variety of roles for the Pirates, including starting games as an opener. That versatility makes him even more valuable as Pittsburgh continues to experiment with creative pitching strategies moving forward.

If this version of Montgomery is real, the Pirates didn’t just acquire a lottery ticket in the Brandon Lowe trade. They may have landed one of the sneakier bullpen steals of the offseason.

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