KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Coming up in the Kansas City Royals system as one of the organization’s most-prized prospects, Mike Montgomery had to learn some lessons the hard way.
“It’s one of those things, you know. Your parents tell you not to touch the stove and you immediately touch the stove,” he said. “That’s just kind of how I am.”
Looking back now at his up-and-down maturation with the Royals, Montgomery now acknowledges some of his stubborn missteps. When the Royals asked him to toe the rubber on one side of the mound, he would slide over to the other; when they asked him to develop a curveball, he instead went with a slider.