Colson

Montgomery

Montgomery put the White Sox on the board with a two-run blast off Jake Irvin in the fourth inning. He then led off the sixth with a double and collected his third hit with a single in the eighth. The 23-year-old shortstop has flashed tremendous power, hitting 21 homers with 55 RBI across 279 plate appearances while slashing .239/.309/.534.

Montgomery’s double was the White Sox’s only extra-base hit in a game where they were stymied by Max Fried. He smacked it 109.7 mph and has shown off his power over the first few months of his career with seven doubles and 19 homers in 67 games.

The rookie shortstop whacked a 1-1 changeup from Luis Gil for a 428-foot (113.7 mph EV) two-run blast in the sixth inning, transforming a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 advantage. That would be all the scoring that the White Sox would do in the ballgame. It was also Montgomery’s only hit in four at-bats. For the season, he’s slashing .221/.295/.498 with an impressive 19 long balls and 51 RBI in only 262 plate appearances.

It appears to be nothing more than a routine night off for the 23-year-old slugger. Chase Meidroth will slide over and cover shortstop, Lenyn Sosa will handle second base and Curtis Mead will start at first base and bat second for the Sox against Guardians’ southpaw Parker Messick.

Montgomery got the scoring started in the opening inning with a two-out, RBI double off of Jack Flaherty. He then led off the fourth inning with a walk and ultimately scored on an error by Wenceel Perez. The 23-year-old phenom then tied the game as he plated a run with a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning. He put the exclamation point on the victory with a 379-foot (101.1 mph EV) two-run blast off of Keider Montero in the seventh that made it 7-4. He finished the night 2-for-4 with a walk, pair of runs scored and four RBI and is now slashing .232/.296/.562 with 18 homers and 46 RBI in his first 203 plate appearances.

Montgomery drew a two-out walk in the third inning and scored on Curtis Mead’s two-run double. He then hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning that pulled the Sox to within a run at 5-4. The 23-year-old rookie shortstop was hit by a pitch in the seventh inning and scampered home on a wild pitch. Montgomery put the exclamation point on the victory with a majestic 454-foot (111.6 mph EV) two-run shot off of Noah Davis in the ninth that made it an 11-7 ballgame. He’s now hitting .229/.288/.547 with a jaw-dropping 17 homers and 42 RBI in his first 198 plate appearances with the White Sox.

16 homers in 47 career games is incredible enough, but Montgomery didn’t have his first until his 15th game, meaning all 16 have come in a 33-game span. He has just 12 other hits during the stretch, leaving him with a .219 average, but that’s just fine for now.

The 23-year-old phenom sat out each of the team’s previous two games due to soreness in his side. He’s right back in there at shortstop and batting cleanup against Carlos Rodon and the Yankees on Friday evening in Chicago.

Montgomery has been playing through discomfort, but this will make two straight games that the 23-year-old shortstop will miss due to soreness in his left side. Chase Meidroth will get the start at shortstop for Montgomery and likely will remain there until the talented infielder can return to action.

Montgomery, who has been playing through some lingering discomfort since last week, has gone deep in four consecutive contests and is up to 14 round-trippers through 43 games in his rookie campaign. He’ll grab a seat on the bench for Wednesday evening’s matchup with Chase Meidroth at shortstop and Lenyn Sosa at second base to face Kansas City right-hander Ryan Bergert. He’s still striking out too much, and doesn’t offer any stolen base upside, but he’s been a strong power source for fantasy managers in deeper mixed leagues. He’s presumably day-to-day heading into Thursday’s series opener against the Yankees since precautionary imaging didn’t reveal any structural damage.