Colson

Montgomery

It’s been a nightmarish start to the season for Montgomery. After closing last season on a 50-homer pace through his 71-game debut, he has just a .175 batting average and 24 strikeouts through 18 games thus far. His raw power and defense remain elite, but it’s fair to fear how much this strikeout issue could hold him back.

The HBP off his left wrist probably should have been ruled a swinging strike, but the White Sox already had one humiliation there with Andrew Benintendi earlier this month and didn’t need another already. Montgomery is batting .200/.302/.418 with three homers in 16 games.

Montgomery snapped a scoreless tie in the fourth inning as he ripped a one-out double off of Seth Lugo that plated Munetaka Murakami. That would be all the run support that Anthony Kay and company would require in this one. The 24-year-old shortstop continues to be productive for fantasy purposes despite his poor batting average, slashing .200/.308/.378 with a pair of home runs, seven RBI, one stolen base and a 17/5 K/BB ratio in his first 52 plate appearances.

Montgomery drew a walk in the fourth inning, then extended the White Sox lead with a solo homer off Brendon Little in the sixth, just getting over the right field wall at 348 feet, 92.9. mph off the bat. We’ll still take those. The 24-year-old shortstop is 6-for-29 with six RBI and a steal while striking out 11 times in the early going.

It’s the lowest Mongomery has hit in Chicago’s lineup this season as Toronto throws lefty Mason Fluharty on Saturday afternoon in the Windy City. The 24-year-old shortstop is off to an ice-cold start at the dish, hitting .192 (5-for-26) with one homer, five RBI and one steal through seven games. He’s struck out in 34.5 percent of his 29 plate appearances so far. It’s admittedly a small sample size, but he continues to look like a batting average liability without enough big-time power upside to make him a viable mixed-league option in shallow fantasy formats.

The 24-year-old shortstop started the scoring with a bang in this one, ambushing a first-pitch cutter from Brandon Sproat for a 405-foot (103.6 mph EV) grand slam to give the White Sox a 4-0 lead before an out had been recorded. He also added an RBI single off of Sproat in the second inning that made it a 6-2 ballgame. Montgomery finished the afternoon 2-for-3 plus a walk. His 2026 season is off to a fine start, hitting .300 (3-for-10) with a homer and five RBI.

Montgomery certainly belongs in the White Sox lineup after his stellar debut last year, but the second spot probably isn’t going to work out in the short term. He’s coming off a spring in which he hit just .182/.224/.345 with 20 strikeouts in 58 plate appearances. Last year, he had a .295 OBP in the minors and his modest .318 mark in the majors was better than anyone should have expected.

Montgomery is hitting .180/.212/.360 with 18 strikeouts in 52 plate appearances this spring. The White Sox certainly have to roll with him as a regular after his performance in the second half of last year, but it seems like a bad sign that manager Will Venable has him batting second regularly. The power production will be there, but the over/under for his OBP this year is right around .300.

Montgomery is hitting just .143 (2-for-14) with four strikeouts through five Cactus League contests this spring. The 24-year-old former top prospect mashed 21 big flies in 71 games for the White Sox last year but did so while striking out nearly 30 percent of the time and adding zero from a stolen base standpoint.

Montgomery’s first big fly of the spring came off Cincinnati reliever Lyon Richardson in the fourth inning. The 23-year-old former top prospect turned his career around last year, walloping 21 round-trippers in 71 games as a rookie. He offers zero stolen base potential and a near-30 percent strikeout rate suggests he won’t be much help in the batting average department either. There’s some real thunder in his bat but his fantasy value is limited to deeper mixed leagues as a cheap power source.