From the moment the Nationals signed catcher Miguel Montero in early February, he seemed likely to win a spot on their Opening Day roster. No one would say that, of course. He had to compete like everyone else. But the man who signed him to his first deal, Mike Rizzo, and the man who served as his bench coach in Chicago, Dave Martinez, knew what they were getting. They just wanted to make sure they were getting the guy they thought they were.
Montero didn’t blow the Nationals away this spring. He hit .207 with a .540 OPS that didn’t quite represent the comfort he showed at the plate. But he earned the respect of a hard-to-please pitching staff, and did enough to show Rizzo, Martinez, and everyone else that he’s still got something to give.
“I wasn’t really competing with anybody. If I was competing with anybody, it was myself, just trying to prove to myself that I still can play,” Montero said. “Other than that, it wasn’t really pressure. I was just playing and doing my things and letting things work out by themselves. One thing’s for sure, if I were going to make it, I was going to go home without regrets. I did all I could. It was a great feeling that I did make it.”
Montero is 34 years old and struggled through an up-and-down year split between the Cubs and Blue Jays last season. His Cubs tenure ended in controversy when he called out Jake Arrieta for not holding Nationals runners and was released a day later. The lesser-known chapter of that story is that he and Arrieta remain in touch – and even remain friends.
His Cubs tenure also ended with fairly strong numbers — a .286 average and .805 OPS in 44 games splitting time there last season. Part of that success, he said Sunday morning, came from knowing his role, knowing he would be the backup from day one and adjusting his mentality accordingly. Though he hit only .188 as a pinch hitter, he said he grew more comfortable in that role — one he will practice in the Nationals’ final Grapefruit League game Sunday, and will likely fill every now and then this season.
“Last year, I think I with the Cubs I was doing pretty good as a pinch hitter last year, and I think it’s because I knew I was a backup. I knew I wasn’t going to catch in I don’t know when. So the only AB I got in the game as a pinch hitter, I tried to take full advantage of,” Montero said.
“Before, you think you’re catching tomorrow and you’re taking a pinch hit today, you’re really not quite focused and maybe you waste an AB. Now knowing I’m going to back up Matty (Wieters), I know how to prepare myself better. I have a routine, a workout routine and all these things because the other thing Davey does really well is letting me know days in advance when I’m going to play.”
Montero doesn’t throw well these days, and other teams will know that. He does frame the ball well, a claim supported by advanced metrics and evaluator anecdotes. This pitching staff is particular, so particular that Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg wanted Wieters to catch them so often as they pushed for Cy Young Awards down the stretch that his workload increased beyond where the Nationals wanted it. But Scherzer has always credited Montero with helping him learn to use his change-up when they were in Arizona. Strasburg got work in with Montero this spring. He caught Gio Gonzalez, Tanner Roark, and A.J. Cole this spring, too. He is known as a strong communicator, which some might argue is a euphemism for “loud mouth,” though he has slid right into the clubhouse culture so far.
“It’s a great pitching staff. The reality is it’s easy to catch these guys. Whatever finger you put down, you know it’s going to be a nasty pitch regardless,” Montero said. ” For a catcher, that’s all you can ask for. You don’t always get that. It’d be nice to have opportunity to catch them through the year.”
He will have that opportunity as long as he keeps hitting and stays healthy. Keeping Montero as Wieters’s backup is more about experience than anything else, and experience helps most in October, when margin for error shrinks. If he can stick around until then, Montero will be a more experienced, proven backup than the Nationals had in Jose Lobaton for the last few seasons. He will, at least, be in that role on Opening Day.
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