Rattlesnake champion left thrower Jordan Montgomery will undergo TJ surgery for the season early reimbursement

Arizona Sidewinders champion left pitcher Jordan Montgomery will undergo a second Tommy John surgery next week, meaning the veteran will miss all of the 2025 season and could affect parts of the 2026 season. Montgomery's first Tommy John surgery dates back to 2018 and will be performed by Dr. Keith Meister. Keith Meister).

"The recovery has not been ideal," Montgomery admits, "and after the last game on March 19, I was still sore the next day and still unwell after a day of rest. We postponed the cowpen training but then we noticed something was wrong when we pitched. I thought it was a joint problem, but the test results showed that surgery was needed. "

If the surgery ends Montgomery's Sidewinders career, the partnership will be a shared regret. The 32-year-old signed with the team at the start of the season last year, when he joined on a one-year contract with a 2025 player option and was seen as an important addition to the Sidewinders, who won the 2023 World Series with the Texas Rangers.

However, Montgomery, who missed the entire spring training session due to a delay in signing a contract, was never able to regain his form, finishing the season with a 6.23 ERA despite minor league game adjustments at the beginning of the season and losing his rotation in August. In an effort to rebuild his value, he opted to exercise his $22.5 million player option for 2025, but that disrupted the Sidewinders' budget and reinforcement plans. Despite the team's surprise six-year, $210 million signing of free agent Corbin Burnes, pushing the team's salary to a franchise-high of nearly $200 million, an offseason attempt to trade Montgomery was unsuccessful.

Montgomery lost 25 pounds (about 11.3 kilograms) in the winter and stepped up his cowpen training, but strained his left index finger on his last throw before spring training, leaving his teammates behind by about a week. He speculated that high-intensity training might have been the trigger for the elbow injury: "I was chasing speed too early, pitching too aggressively in the barn, and being too tight in the game to perfection – it didn't do my arm any good. "

With Burns on the move, Montgomery had to compete with Ryne Nelson and Brandon Pfaadt for the fifth starter, and Pfaadt won, with the team planning to have Montgomery as a long relay. Now he will focus on recovery and support this difficult time with faith: "I believe that the fork in the road in life is planned, and this is God's choice. I will do my best to recover and continue to work hard. "

The operation not only put Montgomery's career in the dark again, but also put the Sidewinders' pitching rotation depth to the test. How the team adjusts its strategy to fill the void will be the focus of attention in the future.