Today: The White Sox have officially announced Montgomery’s promotion. To open a space on the active roster, the team designated infielder Vinny Capra for assignment. They had claimed Capra off waivers from the Brewers in May. He hit .190 with a .443 OPS over 23 games in Chicago, while splitting his time between second base, third base, and shortstop. The White Sox now have five days to trade Capra. If they cannot find a taker, they must place him on outright or release waivers.
In an additional transaction, the White Sox reinstated left-handed pitcher Fraser Ellard from the 60-day IL and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Because Montgomery was already on the 40-man and Ellard will essentially take Capra’s spot, Chicago’s 40-man roster remains at 38 players.
July 3: The White Sox will promote Colson Montgomery for this weekend’s series against the Rockies, reports Kris Norton of WITZ Radio in Indiana. Montgomery is already on the 40-man roster, so the Sox only need to make an active roster move.
It’s the first MLB call for the 23-year-old, who’ll likely make his MLB debut tomorrow against Colorado’s Antonio Senzatela. Chicago’s first-round pick in 2021, the lefty-hitting shortstop was one of the sport’s top prospects not too long ago. Montgomery placed among Baseball America’s top 50 minor league talents entering each of the past three seasons. BA ranked him as the best prospect in the Sox’s system each year from 2022-24.
Montgomery is listed at 6’3″ and 230 pounds, giving him big raw power potential for a middle infielder. A very patient plate approach led to strong on-base marks against low minors pitching, but he has had a tougher time against more polished arms. Montgomery spent all of last year at Triple-A Charlotte, where he hit .214/.329/.381 in 130 games. He connected on 18 home runs with a strong 12% walk rate but struck out in nearly 29% of his trips to the plate.
Chicago needed to add Montgomery to the 40-man roster last offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He’d surely have been selected despite the middling Triple-A numbers, so that was an easy call for the front office. They optioned him back to Charlotte to begin the season, and he’s had similar concerns in his second crack at the level. He has struck out a third of the time while batting .218/.298/.435 in 55 games.
While the season numbers don’t exactly demand a promotion, they’re weighed down by an atrocious April. Montgomery had a serviceable May and was very productive in June, batting .281 with six homers and 11 extra-base knocks in 16 games. The plate discipline concerns persist — he struck out 22 times while drawing only five walks in 71 plate appearances last month — but he’d shown enough from a power perspective for the team to give him a look.
The Indiana native has played four games at third base this year but has otherwise been a full-time shortstop in his minor league career. It’s unlikely the Sox would call him up if they weren’t prepared to give him everyday playing time at his natural position. Rookie Chase Meidroth has gotten the playing time there. Meidroth, acquired from the Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet trade, is hitting .260 with a solid .347 on-base percentage. He hasn’t shown any kind of power, but the disciplined approach is probably enough to stay in the lineup.
Meidroth’s defensive grades are serviceable, but most scouting reports project him as a second baseman. The Sox could slide him to the keystone and move Lenyn Sosa to third base to push Josh Rojas out of the mix. Sosa is a known commodity as a utility type as well, so the focus should be on getting Montgomery and Meidroth into the lineup on a daily basis.
Oboy oh boy o joy
His last month has been very exciting, cutting down on the K rate and crushing the ball again. Great time to see what he can do, especially when on a hot streak… 11 for 22 with 4 HRs over the last week.
Big Hurt: This weekend’s Toilet Bowl series at Colorado seems like a good time to get him in the lineup.
Lol that’s fair.
Toilet bowl that’s a good one lol
Coors Field is the perfect place to get him some reps and show off his power.
Hitting .215 in AAA. He will fit right in.
Not sure what happened to him, he was a highly rated prospect a few years back.
If you’re not sure what happened, probably better to just not comment about it.
I farted 3 minutes ago
But fixes his swing at hitter camp, now he be raking in time for leaf season
Colson Montgomery should get the lions share of playing time at SS. Chase Meidroth should do likewise at 2B to finish the season. As things stand now, one of Caleb Bonemer or Montgomery figures to be the White Sox core SS with the other transitioning to 3B.
Of course, things could easily change depending on the White Sox next couple of amateur drafts, their international signings along with additional prospects acquired in trades that figure to prioritize positional players.
Aaron: When was the last time the Sox paid anything for an international player? Not being a smart a##. I just don’t know.
Avenger,
I believe that would be Oscar Colas. That turned out great. I could be wrong so feel free to correct me.
Luis Robert was an international signee that they spent big on too…. Jose Abreu & others that didn’t pan out. Another question could be when do they go hard for a non-Cuban international signee?
It’s not their fault. The White Sox scouts don’t know where countries like the Dominican Relublic and Venezuela are. They need GPS and Jerry won’t spend the money on it.
Oh that cracked me up. You win the chat today
Haha…Bonemer.
Bonemer looks good in the lower minors but so did Montgomery.
It will be interesting to see what Montgomery does in Chicago.
Deep dish pizza?
A hot dog?
Just kidding. I mean on the field of course. The Sox need some of these guys to break through.
Okay Bonemer
Let’s try to help him out by not having a 150 hitter behind him.
They kind of have an issue with that on this club, but yet Thames keeps his job.
Former Southridge Raider. Best of luck Colson!
Fun fact: he could have played Hoops at Purdue. Painter loved him.
Love the call up. Not sure if he sticks at SS though.
You mean the recall?
It’s obvious every White Sox article on this page is always written by someone who knows absolutely nothing about the White Sox.
Perhaps, tjg25, but even close Sox observers are frustrated by the head-scratching moves this team makes. For example, why did they sign Noda to play first base part-time or DH? He’d been released elsewhere because he can’t hit MLB pitching. They say he has some pop in his bat, but he hasn’t shown that, either. And why do they keep running out Josh Rojas at third base? Seattle let him go, but somehow his “veteran presence” on the Sox roster was supposed to help the kids adjust to life on a big league club. Well, he hasn’t hit either, and none of the “kids” has shown any polish from rubbing shoulders with him. Why not give those at-bats to their hyped prospects instead of giving them to tried-and-failed veterans? The answers remain unknown, and so, yes, tjg25, in that sense people commenting on Sox moves know “nothing.”
Noda is an above average fielder unlike Grindy Vaughn and has elite plate discipline along with some pop, a combo otherwise nonexistent on the scrappy club. Plus he grew up a die-hard White Sox fan in the far North suburbs. Whats not to like?
Noda would probably do better if they actually had a hitting instructor at the big league level. Unfortunately its what happens when ‘the Chairman’ knows your first name, you keep your job forever with the org.
Striking out every 2.6 official at bats in the minors? Is this another Billy Ashley?
Not anymore!
Let’s bounce him around in different positions and bat him every 3rd day – that way we can ruin him like we are doing to our other rookies.
Brooks Baldwin has no future as an everyday player. His only hope to stick on a roster is as a utility man, which basically means…bouncing him around in different positions and batting every 3rd day.
Slate him in at third base or shortstop. But please DFA Josh Rojas. Better than average defender, but hits are few and far between.
As a SSide life long Sox fan, I can say the problem is with the clubs development system. It sucks.
Nobody who goes into the minors system after being drafted or acquired via trade, for the most part, ever get better. The entire development staff both management and on the field instructors needs to be wiped out with a complete ALT-DELETE reset.
Bottom dollar Jerry does not believe in paying for a good quality of instruction at the minor league level.. or the major league level apparently.
vinny capra will always be kershaw’s 3000th k, no one else gets to say that
And if by chance Capra never gets another MLB at bat, what a great trivia question-
Awwww. They’ll always have Paris
I think the bigger laugher was some after game reporter asking about it, like whats it like to be the 3K… LOL.. The appropriate response is ‘It sucks, we want to win here’.
Wonder if they asked the person what it was like to be Wilt’s 3000th
I hope Montgomery does well. We see it a ton where these dudes are rushed to the majors, fail for stretches and get demoted. Old boy got his struggles out of the way in triple A for a year plus. He’s been raking the last 5 or 6 weeks and the Sox clearly have nothing to lose. I think this dude might come up relaxed and make some things happen. Ill be curious to see where his numbers wind up come September w/regular playing time.
Way too many Ks.
Methinks they cut bait on Colson. Give him acup of coffee and hope he runs into some during his hot streak then package him off while he has some meagre valu
Tho if he gives great effort like that play he could be a keeper. Another giant stork of a SS, where have we seen that before?
If the Sox finally cave and rid themselves of Thames and get a real hitting coach? Colson (and others) may do well.. Heck get rid of Thames and bring in the guy (or guys) from Arizona as whoever they were apparently helped Montgomery, and not sure they could any worse than a guy who was the hitting ‘expert’ when they lost a record number of games last season.
I recall Central Park in fall.
Solid play
They can play Capra & Amaya together in Charlotte now. It’s a wet dream come true for their mini GM.
I have seen lots of terrible baseball players wear the silver and black, but Vinny Capra is a special level of awful. The only negative is that he will go unclaimed and stay with the organization in Charlotte instead of just going away forever.
While there are glimmers of hope in the Org, I still think the major issue is at the top. As long as they have a miser, who in 40+ seasons owning the club has only shown more ways to lose than win, they will be in the dumps. The guy tanked his own teams rebuild when he stabbed Renteria in the back and put LaRussa in.. Heck the guy caused the lock out in ’94 when his team was in optimum position to win it all that season as well.
Reinsdorf is really just a loser and needs to go. The fans know it, the players know it, even their de facto GM who only got the job because Jerry knew him and is cheap, knows it.