MLB Pipeline's updated rankings of the Top 100 prospects in baseball were released over the weekend and the Chicago White Sox had players moving all over the list.
Five different White Sox propects moved up in the rankings. But those five players are now the only five players on the list.
LHP Noah Schultz moved up three spots to No. 13 and remains the best left-handed pitching prospect in the sport. C Kyle Teel is at No. 28 after moving up four spots, which makes him the highest-rated true catcher in baseball as well.
LHP Hagen Smith (No. 30) moved up four spots to crack the Top 30 and is still the second-best left-handed pitching prospect behind his teammate Schultz.
OF Braden Montgomery took a massive jump, improving 10 spots and landing at No. 38 after his electric start to the 2025 season. Then there's C Edgar Quero, who is ranked as the 58th best prospect in baseball, but it soon to graduate from the list.
The White Sox had six players in the Top 100 before the 2025 season, but a really rough April for 23-year-old shortstop Colson Montgomery caused him to plummet from 39th to being off the list entirely. Caleb Bonemer not cracking the Top 100 is definitely a disappointment as well.
Colson Montgomery's struggles
Colson Montgomery's struggles are a pretty significant setback for the White Sox rebuild.
As recently as the start of 2024, Montgomery was considered the No. 2 shortstop prospect in all of baseball. Montgomery gave Chicago something they have never really had - an elite position player prospect that was drafted by the White Sox.
Anytime Sox fans or executives pictured the future of the organization and the next playoff team on the South Side, Montgomery was penciled in as the starting shortstop. He was athletic, had great control of the strike zone, and could hit for power to all fields. His .939 OPS across three levels of the minor leagues in 2023 was such a good sign of things to come.
164 strikeouts in Triple-A in 2024 was the first red flag. But even as Montgomery struggled with his swing-and-miss, he got on base at a decent enough clip to make most believe it was all a fluke.
Heading into 2025, many even believed Montgomery was set up to make the team as the starting shortstop out of Spring Training. But instead, he was sent back to AAA where he hit .149 with a .478 OPS in 23 games.
The Sox pulled Montgomery from game action and sent him to Arizona to make some adjustments and hopefully get him back on track. He has been playing with the ACL White Sox (Arizona Complex League) and has started 3-for-17 in five games.
“The philosophy behind it is, Colson’s not off to the start he wanted to be,” said White Sox Director of Player Development Paul Janish during a media session over the weekend. “I know Chris [Getz] touched on this that there’s some mechanical things that he needs to work through. There are some giving him a break mentally from the competitive environment of Triple-A and Charlotte, just the day-to-day and everything that goes along with it. Kind of the intimate environment we can create here in Arizona.” (via Chicago Sun-Times)
With Montgomery struggling so mightily, it would be easy for White Sox fans to panic. Fortunately, one Montgomery is being replaced by another. The ascension of Braden Montgomery as one of the best outfield prospects in all of baseball gives Sox fans another position player to rally behind as a future franchise player.
Braden Montgomery's meteoric rise
The White Sox acquired outfielder Braden Montgomery from the Boston Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade this past offseason. At the time of the deal, Montgomery had never taken a professional at-bat.
While Montgomery was considered to be a Top 10 prospect in the 2024 MLB Draft class and was one of the best college hitters in the country, a broken right ankle in the Super Regionals hurt his draft stock. Montgomery ended up going 12th overall to Boston, but did not play in 2024 while recovering from his ankle injury.
Through 30 games and 111 at-bats in the White Sox organization, Montgomery is hitting .342 with a 1.020 OPS at two levels of the minor leagues. He is hitting for power to all fields, stealing bases, playing good defense. He's also a switch hitter. Montgomery looks like the real deal.
To be quite honest, a 10-spot bump for Montgomery in the updated prospect rankings still feels a little bit low. It's probably due to the limited sample size as pro.
I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Braden Montomgery head to Double-A Birmingham before long. If he continues to thrive there like he has in Winston-Salem (A+), we'll be talking about a Top 10 prospect in all of baseball by the time the 2025 season comes to a close.
As one Montgomery falls, one rises. But for White Sox fans, it would be nice to see them both succeed and have a big league impact before too long.