The Chicago White Sox have many young stars on their roster or waiting to join the team, who should help bring back a winning brand of baseball to the South Side.
With names like Chase Meidroth, Edgar Quero, Kyle Teel, and Grant Taylor laying the foundation for the new core, one name has stood out above the rest: Colson Montgomery.
Montgomery, coming into this season, fell on the list of the White Sox's top prospects after having a disappointing 2024 season. That fall only continued, as those struggles carried into the regular season, which cost Montgomery a chance of breaking Spring Training with the White Sox.
Every player in baseball, regardless of skill level, goes through their slumps. Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is the most notable from this season.
Montgomery went through a similar struggle to Betts, but his came in the minor leagues. He was pulled from game action and sent to Arizona to make swing changes, but Montgomery has had a mature response to his slumping when reflecting upon his struggles.
Colson Montgomery’s up-and-down journey to the big leagues
When the 2025 season started, most White Sox fans expected Montgomery to be the team's Opening Day shortstop. A 1-for-9 Spring Training led to Montgomery getting optioned to the minor league to figure things out and get everyday at-bats. Things only got worse from there.
In 20 games in April, Colson hit .160 with an OPS of .474 for the Charlotte Knights, which forced the organization to send him to Arizona to work with hitting director Ryan Fuller.
Finishing up with Fuller, Montgomery went to Charlotte to see if the things he had worked on had taken hold.
Thankfully for Montgomery, the adjustments had helped, hitting .250 with an OPS of .772 in 19 games in May, with an even better .281 average and 1.010 OPS in June. This leap for Montgomery was so eye-opening for the White Sox that they decided to promote him to the big league club over July 4th weekend.
Since making his debut, Montgomery has provided Sox fans with so much excitement that he's turning into a can't-miss at-bat. In 34 games with the White Sox, Montgomery has hit .233/.299/.534 with an OPS of .834. He has also mashed 10 home runs in 116 at-bats (128 plate appearances).
Montgomery has a mature response when discussing his struggles
Now that Montgomery is a ways away from needing to see Fuller in Arizona, he reflected with MLB.com’s Scott Merkin about how he felt when he struggled.
When talking to Merkin, Montgomery made it clear he didn't want any pity for how bad things were, and that everything he went through needed to happen to get him where he is now.
Colson on going from Minor League struggles to big league standout: "I’m not going to sit here and throw a little pity party about everything I went through. Everything I went through I needed to go through."
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) August 12, 2025
"I’m not going to sit here and throw a little pity party about everything I went through. Everything I went through I needed to go through," said Montgomery. (via Merkin)
A mature response from a player as young as Montgomery is, especially with as little service time as he has. Responding like this is a good sign, as it shows someone unwilling to make an excuse when things aren't going his way.
The White Sox need a player with this mindset in the clubhouse. With Montgomery being so mature so young, it's a good sign that he can develop into one of the team's leaders with time.