NY Mets fans should all have the same thought about Frankie Montas' pitching fix

New York Mets fans have seen the highs and lows of Frankie Montas. In his first outing against the Braves, he pitched five brilliant shutout innings, giving up three hits, three walks, and striking out five. However, in his most recent start against the Pirates, he struggled, going just four innings, surrendering six runs on seven hits and one walk, but still struck out five.

Given the dramatic difference between these two starts, there is concern about which pitcher he is. However, Montas believes that he's been tipping pitches in his past two starts, which is why the stats line looks so different. For the sake of this team's success and Mets fans' sanity, this better be what was causing him problems.

If Frankie Montas stops tipping pitches, he could provide much-needed stability to the Mets' rotation

If this recent stretch has taught us anything, it is that the Mets are in desperate need of pitching help. After having one of the best staffs at the start of the season, it underwent serious regression. Over the last 15 games, the Mets have a 6.63 ERA, the worst in the MLB. They also have the worst team WHIP at 1.67 and have allowed the most walks with 62. They also have the third-highest opponents' batting average at .279.

Montas can be the stopgap that the Mets are in desperate need of. While he's far from an ace, he's been a solid mid-rotation guy throughout his career. Over his 10 years in the bigs, he's pitched 753 1/3 innings to a 4.11 ERA, with 770 strikeouts to 267 walks, a 1.312 WHIP, and an ERA+ of 100. He could be a pitcher you know will give you five to six solid innings and keep them in the game. Not having these meltdown innings the Mets have had over this cold streak.

Tipping pitches could also solve one of the fans' most significant problems with Montas. Although it should be a good thing that the rotation is getting healthy, fans were not too excited to watch Montas pitch. This is because of how badly he struggled in his rehab starts. He had a double-digit ERA over his six rehab starts. However, if he was tipping pitches during those outings, it would explain why minor leaguers were able to hit him so well. It would also show that those numbers are not a fair representation of the player he is.

Although it's nice for Montas to say what he was doing wrong, he still needs to prove that tipping pitches were the reason for his struggles. He needs to go out on the mound and string together a few outings of good starting pitching. He does not need to do anything extraordinary; he just needs to pitch six or so innings with limited runs allowed. That will give fans confidence in Montas and demonstrate that he brings value to this team.