FORT MYERS, Fla. – For the past two-and-a-half years beginning in early June 2017, Pennsylvania prep standout Benny Montgomery has done an outstanding job of rising to the occasion on whichever prominent Perfect Game stage he found himself performing.
He consistently discovered ways to put his elite athleticism on display, even before he began growing into and filling out his 6-foot-4 frame. In fact, when he made his Team Elite travel ball debut with TE 15u Premier at the WWBA 15u Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational in early June 2018, the almost gangly 6-foot-3, 165-pound Montgomery was able to use that athleticism to earn all-tournament recognition and move up to No. 150 in PG’s class of 2021 national prospect rankings.
At that time, the young outfielder had just completed his freshman year at Red Land High School in Montgomery’s hometown of Lewisberry, Pa., but he already had a knack for acclimating himself quite well to his surroundings. Now in the middle of his junior year at Red Land HS, he continues to do just that and much, much more.
Benny Montgomery, now filling out at an athletic 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, spent the last three days at the 800-player PG National Underclass Showcase-Main Event, and he absolutely stole the show. Not really much of a showcase guy up to this point, Montgomery stood a head above his talented peers, performing brilliantly under the warm, late December Florida sunshine.
“I love it; this is definitely a different vibe than a tournament, and almost for sure I like it more. I can show off what I can do because there are less opportunities in a (tournament) game,” Montgomery told PG late Sunday afternoon. “The weather’s awesome; I love playing baseball in December. I’m from Pennsylvania and you don’t play baseball in December – it snows. It’s super cool to be out here.”
From a PG perspective, it was super cool having him here. Not one to waste any time, Montgomery got his very special weekend started during Saturday morning’s workout session when he set an event record with a 97 mph throw from the outfield and ran the 60-yard dash in a personal-best 6.48-seconds, an effort that tied for the second quickest of the day.
Then, on Sunday during the Diamond Kinetics swing testing session, he produced a 103 mph exit velo off the bat, becoming the only prospect who tested to reach triple figures. During game-play on both Saturday and Sunday, he had multiple extra-base hits and turned-in several defensive gems.
Montgomery has been working out almost non-stop since returning home from the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., in late October. As far as baseball-centric activities go, he’s been working with hitting instructor Teed Wertz two or three times a week to go along with indoor practices involving his high school program. He came into the Main Event more than ready to go.
“My dad brings up a good point: He says don’t do a showcase to learn what you can do, do a showcase to show what you can do,” Montgomery said. “So we’ve prepped. I’ve been out running in 35-degree weather (and) doing tons of lifting and long-tossing to make sure my numbers are going to be as good as they possibly can be.
“My outfield throw, I was very happily surprised with it,” he added. “That was my record indoors but I didn’t really think I’d be able to (match) that down here. But I did, so I was happy with that.”
Benny’s dad, Ben Montgomery, is a physician back in Pennsylvania but was able to find the time to be with his son here in Southwest Florida. Ben certainly seemed pleased that he had made the trip when he spoke with PG Sunday afternoon, after getting the opportunity to watch Benny perform at such a strikingly high level.
“The (preparation) for this starts the 364 days before the event – the training never stops,” he said. “We come down here with a general idea of what we want him to accomplish and he’s done that this weekend. … But we certainly have an expectation. It’s not an unknown when we come down to the showcases; we have a pretty good idea of what he’s going to do.”
Benny Montgomery is all about giving credit where credit is due, and in his mind nobody deserves the accolades more than his parents. While Ben Montgomery practices medicine, his mom Tanyia Montgomery stays busy as a nurse and homemaker; both are always there for their son.
“Without my parents, I wouldn’t be here and I’m not saying that because they pay for everything I do,” Benny said. “My dad, since I was 7 years old, has been outside hitting me ground balls, fly balls, whatever it was. He’s a doctor so he works a busy job and then he comes home after being a doctor and does stuff with me.
“My mom always made sure that my nutrition was perfect – eat a banana before a game, push the carbs, don’t eat nachos before a game – that was always her.”
The Montgomery family moved to Lewisberry from Bloomsburg, Pa., about five years ago and they make no bones about the fact that the move was baseball-related. And, it turned out, it was beneficial for just about everyone involved as Montgomery helped the Red Land High School Patriots and head coach Nate Ebbert to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Class 5A state championship this past spring.
“We had seven D-I guys (on the roster) – it was an awesome team,” Montgomery said. “In the Harrisburg area of Pennsylvania there’s just a baseball culture unlike anywhere else in the state. It’s just special.”
His dad agreed: “In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for whatever reason, there are a lot of baseball knowledgeable people,” Ben said. “At his school, his coaching is phenomenal.”
After beginning his travel ball experiences with the highly regarded Go-Wags organization in 2015 and staying with that program through the summer of 2017, Montgomery hooked up with the nationally prominent Georgia-based Team Elite program in 2018.
That relationship has been extremely beneficial for both parties, with Montgomery earning six all-tournament citations in the seven events he’s played with TE the last two years, while also helping the program win a pair of PG WWBA tournament championships.
“The Team Elite coaches, they’re there and they care about the kids,” he said. “They’re great dudes, they’re constantly pushing you to get better. … With Team Elite, there’s no doubt in my mind they’re the best in the business.”
One of the championships Montgomery was a part of came in early July when the PG 16u No. 1-ranked Team Elite 16u Scout Team went 12-0-0 on its way to taking home the title at the WWBA 16u National Championship held in the Atlanta area; he was named to the all-tournament team at that event.
“His experience winning the WWBA National Championship was awesome,” Ben Montgomery said. “And that came literally two weeks after Red Land had won the high school state championship in Pennsylvania – he did two dog-piles in two weeks.”
Montgomery came into the Main Event as the No. 44-ranked national prospect in the class of 2021 (No. 8 outfielder; Nos. 3/1 in Pennsylvania). He carries a 4.0 grade-point average at Red Land HS and committed to the University of Virginia and head coach Brian O’Connor in September 2018, just as he was beginning his sophomore year.
“We visited UVa early in our recruiting process and we had three trips planned after that,” Ben Montgomery said. “My wife and I had the opportunity to sit down with Coach O’Connor for over an hour of his time, and we left Charlottesville having given our verbal commitment because we just didn’t think we could do much better than that.”
So, Benny Montgomery has been performing at PG tournaments and showcase for a year-and-a-half now having already put the whole college recruiting process in his rearview mirror. While that’s definitely a weight lifted from his shoulders he does admit to feeling anxious from time-to-time when he’s at some of the more high-profile, national events, but he also has a lot of confidence in his abilities so he can keep the anxiety in check.
Once again, he was certainly relaxed here this weekend, taking time for everyone he encountered. He’d talk to the players from Texas and they’d tell him how they start getting outdoors as early as January. Well, the cruel hard fact is there might very well be a foot of snow on the ground in south-central Pennsylvania in January so it’s almost impossible for Montgomery to relate to that scenario.
At the same time, he said it’s so very cool to talk to those top prospects from the warm-weather states who many might see as having inherent advantages over their cold-weather brethren. But by attending PG showcases and tournaments, Montgomery is able to reel in a little bit of the slack and make the playing field somewhat more level.
He is, of course, very much looking forward to his upcoming spring high school season when the Red Land Patriots will attempt to defend their PIAA Class 3A state championship. Red Land will also be playing at the prestigious USA Baseball National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C., this spring, so that is definitely an added bonus.
But he is also looking forward to the summer of 2020 when he’ll most certainly receive an invitation to the PG National Showcase with his eyes on also receiving an invitation to the PG All-American Classic at Petco Park in San Diego in August. The Classic, he said, is “definitely” on his radar
There is no doubt Montgomery did an excellent job of representing himself, his family and the state of Pennsylvania at the National Underclass-Main Event. He came in wanting to perform to the best of his abilities and he might have accomplished that within the showcase’s first two hours.
“I just hope that the Perfect Game people see me and understand what I think my strengths are; that’s my goal,” Benny said. “I’m not down here to get committed – I love UVa and I’m never going anywhere else – so my goal here is to update my numbers for summer ball.
“I feel like I get a lot of it done on athleticism, but in the last few years I’m starting to get my swing down a little bit,” he added. “It still has a ways to go, of course, but it’s better; it just feels good.”
Living in Pennsylvania makes it necessary for the Montgomery’s to head south frequently in an effort to seek out the best competition, but both Ben and Benny feel its well worth the time and expense.
“It’s always a nice break from the Pennsylvania weather to come down to Florida and play more baseball; we love that,” the elder Montgomery said. “… This is always a nice opportunity to improve your game, to show maybe some of the important people that you continue to work hard on your game … to be a better athlete and a better baseball player.”