It’s easy to forget how off-the-radar Jordan Montgomery was before his rookie season in 2017. If performance were all that mattered for prospect hype, Montgomery would have been a household name among Yankee fans: 139 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, 2.13 ERA (including 0.97 at Triple), a strikeout per 9 innings, a solid walk rate, and essentially zero home runs allowed. However, Montgomery was a pretty boring 4th round pick out of a solid but boring college program at the University of South Carolina with a solid but boring 4-pitch mix and average fastball. We quickly learned that Montgomery’s whole was greater than the sum of his parts, and he was an above-average MLB starter.
I’m here to tell you that Jordan Montgomery has a twin brother. His name is Josh Rogers. Like Montgomery, most Yankee fans haven’t heard of Josh Rogers. This great scouting video of Rogers currently has 97 views:
Like Jordan Montgomery, Josh Rogers is a tall left-handed pitcher with a low-90s fastball with strong secondary pitches. While he doesn’t have Montgomery’s fourth pitch, his control is better. Like Montgomery, he was a late-round college pick out of a boring big program (Louisville, which has a stronger reputation than it’s actual record in producing major league players).
Like Jordan Montgomery, Josh Rogers has dominated the minor leagues. Rogers has worked his way up to Triple-A in just three years, despite missing most of 2017 to bone chips in his elbow. In 34 innings over six starts, Rogers has an ERA of 3.15, over a strikeout per innings, and a solid walk rate.
Obviously, the Yankees are not on the verge of calling up Josh Rogers. He’s still shaking off the elbow surgery, and Domingo German deserves to be ahead of him in the depth charts. However, if Sonny Gray continues to falter, or the Yankees suffer another injury before Jordan Montgomery returns, Josh Rogers could be the next hidden gem in the Yankee system.