One of the White Sox’s top prospects is continuing his ascent through the farm system.
Infielder Colson Montogmery will receive a promotion from High-A Winston-Salem to Double-A Birmingham on Monday, as first reported by Tamar Sher of 14 News.
Montgomery, 20, was drafted 22nd overall by the White Sox in 2021 out of Southridge High School in Indiana. In 82 games between Low-A Kannapolis and High-A Winston-Salem this season, Montogmery is hitting .295/.408/.450 with nine home runs, 40 runs batted in, and an .858 OPS. He, most notably, had an on-base streak of 50 games earlier in the year.
After being unranked on every prospect ranking to begin the season, Montgomery has been skyrocketing up the boards as of late. After landing as high as No. 38 on the most recent Baseball America list, Montgomery has been ranked the No. 60 prospect in baseball on MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospect list.
MLB Pipeline grades Montgomery’s tools as follows: Hit: 55 | Power: 55 | Run: 50 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 55
Here is their write-up on the White Sox’s talented shortstop:
“Because he’s a 6-foot-4 lefty-hitting shortstop with impressive hitting ability and raw power, Montgomery draws repeated comparisons to Corey Seager. He has a smooth stroke and provided consistent contact in the ACL, where he made good swing decisions and focused on using the entire field rather than trying to do too much at the plate. He has the bat-to-ball skills, strength and bat speed to produce 25 or more homers per season as he learns to more consistently turn on pitches and launch them in the air.
Though many amateur scouts believed Montgomery will outgrow shortstop as he fills out and slows a bit, the White Sox are confident he can stay at the position. He compensates for average speed with a quick first step and has the athleticism and solid arm strength to make plays. If he winds up not having enough range to remain at short, he would likely move to third base and could become a solid defender there.”
While not as widely publicized as the MLB Pipeline rankings, Montgomery is also ranked as the 35th prospect in baseball in the updated ESPN rankings by Kiley McDaniel. You can view those here.
With the aggressive promotion by the White Sox, conversations will surely begin revolving around Montgomery’s MLB timeline heading into the offseason. A South Side debut would appear to be very much on the table for 2023, assuming all goes well this fall and the first half of next season.
For the time being, though, we’ll be turning our attention to the Barons and potentially the Arizona Fall League to monitor his upcoming performance.
Follow us on social media @SoxOn35th for more updates throughout the remainder of the season!
Featured Photo: Kannapolis Cannonballers/Twitter
I’m a bit surprised by this promotion. Colson Montgomery has had a fine season but his numbers at A+ Winston-Salem weren’t as strong as what he put up at A- Kannapolis earlier this year. He’s also struggled more recently. His promotion might have to do with an injury to Jose Rodriguez, another top White Sox SS prospect who had to leave Saturday’s AA contest early. Rodriguez was not in the Barons Sunday lineup but has yet to be placed on the IL. The White Sox also have two other top SS/2B prospects currently at AAA Charlotte in Lenyn Sosa and Yolbert Sanchez. I’m guessing that Montgomery might be at AA because they need a SS to replace Rodriguez and a demotion of Sosa or Sanchez to AA isn’t warranted.