Colson Montgomery looking to earn
shortstop job with the Chicago White Sox
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[January 25, 2025]
By JAY COHEN
CHICAGO (AP) — Colson Montgomery heard what Chris Getz said, and it
sounded good to him.
A day after the Chicago White Sox general manager predicted
Montgomery is going to make his major league debut this year, the
6-foot-3 shortstop sounded as if he was ready to go.
“Him saying that, it just kind of gives me a little more motivation
and confidence,” Montgomery said Friday. “But at the end of the day,
it’s not going to be given, so I got to go out there and I got to
earn it.”
Montgomery is going to get every opportunity to do just that. He
might be the most closely watched player for Chicago when the team
begins spring training in Arizona next month.
Picking up the pieces after a 41-121 season — the worst record in
modern major league history — the White Sox have an opening at
shortstop, and putting the homegrown Montgomery in the lineup on
opening day would be a nice moment for a rebuilding franchise
counting on its player development staff to make the most of its
suddenly rich farm system.
But Getz is ready if Montgomery needs more time in the minors. Josh
Rojas could step in after signing a $3.5 million, one-year contract
in January, and the White Sox also have Chase Meidroth and Brooks
Baldwin.
“Everyone here is hungry and everything like that,” said Montgomery,
who turns 23 on Feb. 27.
Meidroth was acquired in the Garrett Crochet trade with the Boston
Red Sox in December. The 23-year-old Meidroth, a fourth-round pick
in the 2022 amateur draft, hit .293 with seven homers and 57 RBIs in
122 games for Triple-A Worcester last year.
Asked about his playing style, Meidroth described himself as “always
the underdog.”
“I’m going to scrap my way every day and I’m going to come and bring
energy,” he said, “and I play the game where my jersey’s usually the
dirtiest one on the field after every game.”
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Chicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery fields a ball during a
spring training baseball practice, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in
Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
Montgomery has been one of Chicago's top prospects
since he was selected by the team in the first round of the 2021
draft out of an Indiana high school.
He appeared to be on his way to a big league debut last season, but
he had a tough year with Triple-A Charlotte. He batted .214 with 18
homers and 63 RBIs, striking out 164 times in 130 games.
“It was definitely the first time I’ve ever kind of struggled a
little bit,” Montgomery said ahead of the team's winter fan
festival. “But I mean I look back and I said I was happy I kind of
went through that all because it’s not like I’m going to be perfect
my whole life and my whole career.”
Montgomery felt he got too wrapped up in the possibility of joining
the White Sox.
“It kind of took me away of just being in the moment and worrying
about 7 o'clock in Charlotte when I needed to play,” he said. “So I
felt like I kind of learned a lot about that, that one day at a time
in this game is very important.”
After the season was over, Montgomery went to the Arizona Fall
League for the second time. He hit .313 with three homers and 11
RBIs in 11 games with the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Montgomery, who was added to Chicago's 40-man roster in November,
said he used an attacking approach at the plate in the AFL that
worked out well for him.
“It was just a little bit more of a mindset change for me. ... I had
to put a lot of pride and ego aside, going back again. But, in the
end, I think it was a really good decision,” he said.
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