For the entirety of the 2023 season, nearly every time Elehuris Montero came up to the plate you could be certain that at some point in the at-bat he’d get an off-speed pitch far off the plate, low and away. Also certain was that he would take a generous hack at the ball and miss by a foot. A month into the 2024 season, little has changed.
The Statcast Swing Take graphic above shows what anyone watching EM the last couple of years can tell you, he will swing at anything and pitchers are taking advantage. On chase pitches (yellow above), Montero swings at nearly twice the league average (39% to 22% for the league). Even worse, Montero gets 50% more waste pitches (gray above) than the average batter and swings at nearly three times (13% to 5%) more of those pitches WAY outside the strike zone.
The first week or two of the season looked like Montero may have adjusted his swing, but the team’s and his own struggles seem to have brought him right back to his free-swinging ways. As of May 6, Montero is batting a putrid .200/.252/.276(!) with an OPS+ of just 46 (a league-average player is 100). This just cannot be acceptable at a position that demands production.
It’s really time to look at what Montero brings and if he has a future with the club, especially since he adds no real defensive value. The Rockies have a glut in the outfield and at first base/DH and need to not just divest from veterans not contributing (Cave, Blackmon), but also young players without much future blocking others. We’ll see if the notoriously loyal (or stubborn) Rockies front office can muster the courage needed to make some hard choices, including moving on from Elehuris Montero.
Punk Rockies 
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