Yankees prospects had a good year in 2017, and while Aaron Judge is the Rookie of the Year and Luis Severino is the team’s ace, it was the rise of Jordan Montgomery that no one saw coming. A rotation lacking in enough bodies gave a rookie the chance to make an impact, and not only did he hold his own, but Montgomery also managed to grab a few votes as the only rookie starting pitcher on the scene.
It would be easy to look at Montgomery’s final numbers for the season and think that they are pedestrian, but then you’d be dismissing the fact that he was a 24-year-old rookie who wasn’t even initially expected to compete for a major league job in spring training this year.