With the recent reports that the White Sox are not going to spend any money on free agents in the offseason, they are going to have to count on their prospects to come up and produce right away at the Major League level.
One of the biggest names they will be relying on is Colson Montgomery, their second ranked prospect and #25 overall in all of baseball. Unfortunately for Montgomery, this has not been a great season for him, as he has fallen considerably in the prospect rankings due to his struggles at AAA.
This year, he is hitting just .216 with a .330 OBP. These aren’t numbers you want to see out of your top hitting prospect, especially at AAA. However, he does have 18 homeruns, 61 RBIs, and eight stolen bases, which are all career highs. With that, there is reason to believe that Montgomery will still be a productive MLB hitter, especially with how he has played as of late.
In the month of September, he has raised his batting average by .010, which is impressive considering the amount of at-bats he’s put in during the season. Overall in September, he is hitting .283 with a .371 OBP, adding four homeruns, 11 RBIs, and nine walks in just 60 at-bats. While, you’d ideally like that to be his month-to-month slash line, it is encouraging to see him get hot for a whole month.
As you can see from Adam Sager’s tweet above, the hot-streak started in late august, as his numbers are even better if you include the last 10 games of August.
This is a great development for Montgomery who will likely ride this hot streak into the offseason and hopefully get on the right foot in Spring Training, as he will be leaned upon to take up the starting shortstop duties.
Barring any significant moves in the offseason, the White Sox will likely start an infield with Bryan Ramos and Miguel Vargas at third base, Montgomery at shortstop, Brooks Baldwin at second base, and Andrew Vaughn at first. Miguel Amaya will likely take the role of backup infielder, as Nicky Lopez will likely be non-tendered this offseason.
Montgomery will likely get a long leash at shortstop to start his MLB career, as there isn’t going to be anyone pushing for his spot unless Jacob Gonzalez starts off the 2025 season on an absolute heater. However, it will be in the White Sox best interest to let him get as many reps in the MLB as he can, as if he plays well, he can earn them an extra first round pick.
Hopefully something clicked for Montgomery, as if he turns out to be the cornerstone player the White Sox thought he could be when they drafted him, that would fill a huge hole in the middle of their order.
