World Series Hero Jordan Montgomery Throws First Pitches in Two Years at Riders Field as RoughRiders Close First-Half Champs
- Jun 22
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 26
FRISCO, TEXAS: Jordan Montgomery walked off the mound at Riders Field on Sunday night having done exactly what the Texas Rangers needed him to do: throw the ball over the plate, keep the scoreboard clean, and prove that the surgically repaired elbow holds. The 33-year-old left-hander, rehabbing at the RoughRiders' home at 7300 RoughRiders Trail along the Dallas North Tollway corridor, tossed one inning against the Arkansas Travelers in his first competitive pitching appearance since September 2024, a milestone that immediately turned heads across the Rangers organization and across North Texas.
One Inning, Ten Months in the Making
The outing was brief by design. Montgomery, who signed a one-year free-agent contract with Texas in February after his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks, was placed on the 60-day injured list in March while recovering from Tommy John surgery performed the previous year. Sunday marked the first time he had faced live professional hitters in roughly nine months, and by the numbers it went as well as a Rangers pitching coach could hope.
According to MiLB.com, Montgomery tossed one shutout inning, allowing one hit, no earned runs, no walks, and struck out one batter. He threw 13 pitches and 10 of them found the zone, a control-first performance entirely consistent with his career identity as a pitcher who has lived off location rather than velocity.
The plan, assuming no setbacks, is for Montgomery to pitch five or six times before joining the Rangers' rotation conversation just before the trade deadline.
That timeline, reported by Rangers analyst Jamey Newberg of The Newberg Report, would put Montgomery back in a major-league uniform sometime in July, potentially at a moment when the Rangers, sitting around .500 through mid-June, could use a proven rotation arm. The rehab arc will play out, pitch by pitch, right here in Frisco.
A World Series Arm Returns to a Familiar Role
Montgomery's connection to Texas Rangers baseball runs deeper than a single rehab assignment. He joined the club at the trade deadline in 2023 and made 11 starts down the stretch, posting a 2.79 ERA across 67.2 innings as the Rangers won the first World Series championship in franchise history. That postseason pedigree is exactly what the organization is betting on as it nurses him back to health through Frisco.
The lefty debuted in the majors with the New York Yankees in 2017 after the Yankees drafted him in the fourth round out of the University of South Carolina in 2014. He spent six seasons in the Bronx before time with St. Louis and then Arizona, where a rough 2024 campaign preceded the UCL surgery that sent him to the injured list and, eventually, to a Sunday evening start in Frisco. According to Rotoballer, this was his first time pitching at any professional level since undergoing that surgery.
First-Half Champions Riding High on RoughRiders Trail
Montgomery's reappearance lands in the middle of the most successful stretch of the RoughRiders' 2026 season. The club clinched the Texas League South first-half title with a 13-4 win over Arkansas earlier last week, earning an automatic berth in the Texas League playoffs this September. The Father's Day finale on Sunday, the same game in which Montgomery threw his rehab inning, ended in a 3-1 Frisco win, giving the Riders their fifth victory in the final series of the first half against the Travelers.
Max Wagner broke the ice with a third-inning home run over the left-center field wall, and Dylan MacLean, now 5-0 on the season, dealt into the seventh inning and limited the Travelers to just one run. An Orlando Martinez RBI single in the eighth and a first career Double-A save from Joey Danielson closed out the win. The RoughRiders finished the first half at 39-29, sitting alone atop the Texas League South, according to OurSports Central.
Riders Field Drawing Eyes Beyond DFW
The venue itself, tucked between the Dallas North Tollway and Warren Parkway in Frisco's Stonebriar-area development corridor, continues to punch above its Double-A weight class. The ballpark is recognized for its distinctive Lazy River beyond the right-field wall, and more than 225 former RoughRiders players have gone on to play in the majors, among them current Rangers outfielders Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford and pitcher Jack Leiter, according to Minor League Baseball. The franchise has consistently finished in the top five among all Double-A affiliates in annual attendance.
That reputation took another step forward on Tuesday when it was announced that the 11th annual Frisco College Baseball Classic is set for Riders Field on March 5-7, 2027. The field includes the reigning 2026 NCAA national champion Oklahoma Sooners, alongside Kansas, Southern Miss and UC Irvine, according to a statement released by Peak Events, LLC, an Allen, Texas-based event management firm that operates the tournament.
The Frisco Classic has become one of the premier early-season events in college baseball, and the 2027 field is a great example of that.
That quote came from Ryan Holloway, CEO and founder of Peak Events. The 2027 edition adds a regional rivalry subplot as well: the tournament will feature a rematch between Oklahoma and Kansas, who met in a Lawrence Super Regional during the 2026 postseason.
What Comes Next on RoughRiders Trail
With the second half of the Texas League season beginning this week and the RoughRiders already playoff-bound, Frisco fans have every reason to keep showing up at the ballpark on RoughRiders Trail near the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and Warren Parkway. Montgomery is expected to make multiple additional starts before the Rangers recall him to Globe Life Field in Arlington, and each one will be a preview of what could become a consequential addition to a Texas rotation still searching for consistency through the summer.
Tickets and information for upcoming RoughRiders home games, including Montgomery's likely subsequent rehab appearances, are available at RidersBaseball.com or by phone at 972-731-9200. Playoff ticket packages for the September postseason run are also on sale through the team's website.
Why It Matters
Frisco has spent years cultivating its identity as Sports City, U.S.A., and Riders Field is one of the physical anchors of that brand. When a World Series-winning pitcher returns from major surgery and chooses a minor-league mound in Frisco, Texas, as the place to restart his career, it is a reminder of what the city's investment in professional-grade sports infrastructure actually looks like in practice. The RoughRiders' first-half championship, a high-profile rehab assignment drawing national fantasy baseball coverage, and the announcement of an elite 2027 college baseball field all in the same week reinforce just how much the corner of RoughRiders Trail and the Tollway has come to mean for North Texas sports. The Frisco News will continue tracking Montgomery's progress and the RoughRiders' playoff push as the second half gets underway.
By Albert Angarita · The Frisco News
Albert is a licensed Texas REALTOR® serving Frisco and North Texas. Buying, selling, or relocating? Work with Albert at Texava Real Estate.
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