Padres pitching depth gets a quiet boost as a former top prospect returns

San Diego Padres fans have learned the hard way that “pitching depth” isn’t a buzzword you toss around in February. It’s the whole season. And it can be the difference between surviving a rough stretch and watching your bullpen melt into soup by mid-June. So when a former top prospect like Carson Montgomery pops back up on the mound healthy, it matters, even if it’s happening in the Arizona Fall League and not under the Petco Park lights.

This isn’t a “he’s back to help instantly” comeback story. It’s a “he’s back and alive” kind of story — and honestly, sometimes that’s the best news you can get after 18 months without any real in-game reps. That kind of gap is basically an eternity for a pitcher. Plenty of time to refine, revamp, and tinker… and also plenty of time to feel like a human pitching lab experiment who may not ever get any real reps again.

Padres pitching depth gets more interesting with Carson Montgomery back in action

In the AFL, Montgomery’s been leaning sinker/slider heavy against righties, then sprinkling in the changeup to keep lefties honest. The stat line looks like what you’d expect from a guy shaking rust off and testing his edges — 1.74 ERA (solid), seven strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings, but also seven walks and 11 hits allowed. The command isn’t fully ironed out yet, and hitters got some contact… which is fine. The point isn’t perfection. The point is that he came out of it healthy.

And one of the coolest parts? The scouting report isn’t just coming from some clipboard in the stands — it’s coming from Enrique Bradfield Jr., who’s basically had a front-row seat to Montgomery’s return while they’ve been reunited in Peoria. Bradfield’s review is the kind Padres fans should latch onto:

Montgomery has “the ability to get on the mound and pump some good fuel,” and Bradfield notes the secondaries have gotten better, he’s filling up the zone, getting swing-and-miss, and letting the defense work behind him.

That’s not nothing. That’s the outline of a guy who can re-enter the organization’s pitching conversation — whether that becomes rotation depth, a multi-inning bridge option, or just the kind of “break glass in case of emergency” arm contenders always need.

Is Montgomery a sure thing? Not at all. But the Padres don’t need him to be a sure thing right now. They need him to be another door the staff can open. And if you’re building a pitching staff for the long haul, a healthy arm with improved secondaries is the kind of quiet boost that can turn into a very loud payoff later.