CHICAGO (AP) — Colson Montgomery traveled a bumpy road from top prospect to the major leagues. The young shortstop was joined on the journey by the Chicago White Sox.
That made Monday night even sweeter for the player and the rebuilding team.
Montgomery made his home debut for Chicago in the opener of a three-game series against Toronto. He played in his first major league game on Friday night at Colorado and went 5 for 10 while helping the White Sox take two of three against the Rockies.
“I’m just so happy to be part of this organization, and them just believing in me, to be honest,” a smiling Montgomery said. “Because there’s a lot that goes into, you know, last year, you don’t really play the best, and then you start this year not really playing the best. And there was just never a doubt in their mind with the White Sox.”
First baseman Ryan Noda was placed on the 10-day injured list before the matchup with Toronto, and infielder Tristan Gray was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte. Noda has a right quad strain.
Montgomery, 23, was a first-round pick in the 2021 amateur draft. He appeared to be on his way to a big league debut last season, but he had a tough year with Charlotte. He batted .214 with 18 homers and 63 RBIs, striking out 164 times in 130 games.
He had a chance to make the major league team in spring training, but he was sent back to Charlotte in March. He was batting just .149 (14 for 94) when the White Sox decided to have him go to Arizona to work with Ryan Fuller, who was hired in November as the organization’s director of hitting.
“Ultimately it just came down to just really finding this routine that we’ve kind of, I guess you could say, fine-tuned,” Montgomery said. “And I mean, I’m just trying to perfect that routine and then go out there and execute it.”
Montgomery’s work with Fuller, along with the reset that went along with time away from games, helped him find his form. He hit .270 (33 for 122) after returning to Charlotte, earning a promotion.
He went hitless in his debut against the Rockies, but he robbed Ryan Ritter with a terrific catch in the second inning. He hit an RBI triple for his first big league hit on Saturday.
“I’m really proud of him,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “We talked, now it was months ago, you know, I gave him a call and just to kind of do a little check in and, you know, he’s going through it. He was really struggling, and I said, ‘Hey, you know we’re going to figure this out. You’re going to figure this out. You just can’t quit.’ And he goes, ‘I’m not going to quit.’ And he didn’t.”
The series opener against the Blue Jays also was the team’s first home game since former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks died on Friday in Portugal, where he was being treated for a form of stomach cancer. He was 44.
Fans placed flowers in Jenks’ memory at the 2005 World Series monument outside the ballpark, and the team honored the two-time All-Star with a highlight video and a pregame moment of silence.
Getz, who played with Jenks in 2008 and 2009 with the White Sox, said the closer had a big heart.
“He was just this most fun-loving kid,” Getz said. “And obviously a tremendous competitor, you know, on the mound. He didn’t have an easy life. He didn’t. I know that his family’s got to be really going through it right now. It’s obviously really sad.”
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