The Oakland Athletics acquired RHP Frankie Montas from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deadline deal. What kind of pitcher did they get?
Who Is He?
Montas was originally signed by the Boston Red Sox out of the Dominican Republic in 2009. He made his debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2010, and it wasn’t pleasant. He had a 9.55 ERA and a 2.12 WHIP over 21 2/3 innings.
He was sent back to the DSL the next summer and made just 5 appearances, throwing 12 2/3 innings, allowing a 4.26 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP but also with a 12/12 BB/K ratio. The Red Sox brought him state side in 2012, where he started with the Gulf Coast team, making 12 appearances, 9 of them starts, before being promoted for one start with the short-season New York-Penn League. Overall, he threw 44 1/3 innings, posting a 3.65 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with a 13/45 BB/K ratio.
Montas started the summer in the Boston organization before being a piece of the three-team Jose Iglesias trade that sent Iglesias from Boston to Detroit. He pitched the entire summer in the South Atlantic League, moving from Boston’s Greenville affiliate to the White Sox’s Kannapolis affiliate. All total, he made 24 appearances, 23 of them starts, spanning 111 innings, but they weren’t exactly pretty, with a 5.43 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, and 50/127 BB/K ratio.
2014 changed a lot of things for Montas. He worked with the White Sox in extended spring training after an injury, and he ended up spending time with the Arizona Rookie League, high-A Winston-Salem in the Carolina League, and AA Birmingham in the Southern League. He made only 15 starts, throwing 81 innings, but those innings were tremendous, as he totaled a 1.44 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 22/80 BB/K. The White Sox sent the hard-thrower to the Arizona Fall League to get some more innings in, and he made a big impression there, throwing 23 innings over 6 starts with a 3.52 ERA and 19 strikeouts. MLB.com ranked Montas as their #91 prospect coming into the 2015 season.
Montas was sent to AA Birmingham to start 2015 and finished in the big leagues with the White Sox. For Birmingham, Montas made 23 starts, throwing 112 innings, with a 2.97 ERA and 1.22 WHIP along with a 48/108 BB/K ratio. In the big leagues, he made seven appearances, two of them starts. He threw 15 innings, sporting a 4.80 ERA and 1.53 WHIP with a 9/20 BB/K ratio. MLB.com was still the only service ranking Montas, placing him 95th on their list.
The Dodgers acquired him in the three-team trade that sent Todd Frazier from the Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago White Sox this offseason then they traded him to Oakland as part of the deal that brought Rich Hill and Josh Reddick to Los Angeles. Montas has not pitched with Oakland due to injury, but his 2016 numbers before the trade were quite good, posting a combined 7 games, 4 of them starts, 16 innings, 2.25 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and a 3/22 BB/K. Baseball America moved Montas to their #82 prospect in their midseason rankings, but he dropped off MLB.com’s rankings due to his injuries.
Next: Montas's scouting report