Willson Contreras sees Mike Montgomery finding his way as a starter

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Mike Montgomery has been Yu Darvish’s replacement for most of the season and it has paid dividends.

Since the start of June, Montgomery has a respectable 3.35 ERA.

Montgomery and Willson Contreras joined 670 The Score Monday afternoon, discussing multiple things about the state of the Cubs.

Contreras and Montgomery have lockers next to each other and they’ve discussed Montgomery's desire to be a starter. When Montgomery talked about that, the hosts noticed Contreras had a smile on his face and asked why.

“We always talk about this … we talked about this situation and I just said keep doing what you’re doing and you’re time will come,” Contreras said. “Baseball gods put him in this spot and it's been really good. When you’re consistent on something you want, and wonder when you’ll get it. He got it, and he’s done really well.”

Now for Montgomery, with his teammates having his back, especially his catcher Contreras, that helps a lot.

“We joke around a lot which is great, I think we shoot it straight with each other and joke around. But we also know we respect how good we really are.” Montgomery said. “Having your teammates portray that confidence in you, it’s good.

“When I started here, you’re in the bullpen, and you might be in the role you want, but you realize that we're on a team that won a World Series. We’re one of the best teams in baseball. Do I have individual goals? Yes, but being a part of a special organization, you have to balance those two, and no matter what if you’re a good player or a good pitcher, you’ll find time to play no matter what.”

Coming into the season, the Cubs shuffled up manager Joe Maddon’s coaching staff, one of those changes being new pitching coach Jim Hickey. Hickey was the pitching coach in Tampa when Maddon was managing the Rays.

Having new personnel come in and learn the pitchers on the staff, it can be difficult. Montgomery talked about Hickey's first year in the role.

“It took some time, but now we have a much better relationship than we did since spring and even in the beginning of the year. Having a new guy come in, you’re not going to take everything he says seriously right away. You’re going to have to feel him out,” Montgomery said.

“I remember throwing a bullpen in Pittsburgh and what I was thinking went wrong, he said the same thing. And I said, ‘okay he knows his stuff.’ So it takes a little bit of that and different times like that to really buy in.”

But for Contreras, it’s been a little different from a catching standpoint with Hickey, but they still communicate with each other.

“To be honest, I think he’s too quiet," Contreras said. "We both do a lot so we don’t talk much, but we share good information, our thoughts and ideas with each other but that’s it.”

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