Next in Line?

Every baseball franchise has historic strengths and weaknesses. With the White Sox, you never spend more than a couple of minutes talking about great left fielders or catchers. It’s all pitching and centerfield—plus shortstop. Consider that the White Sox had four shortstops—Luke Appling, Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio and Ron Hansen—from 1931 to 1971. Two of them, Appling and Aparicio, are in the Hall of Fame. Some of the guys who came later—like Bucky Dent, Jose Valentin and Ozzie Guillen—weren’t too shabby, either. Which brings us to the next presumptive standout, Colson Montgomery. Never has a 22-year old talent raised so much anxiety. Why? Only decent with the glove, Montgomery is going to have to prove himself hitting, which he hasn’t done a whole lot of since he left high-A. The pride of Jasper, Indiana, hit .244 at Double-A Charlotte in half a season in 2023. Last year, Montgomery moved up to Triple-A Charlotte, where he showed some pop with 18 homeruns and 63 RBIs. But the .214 BA and 164 strikeouts—yikes. But I’m not supposed to worry because Montgomery hit .264 with 13 RBIs over 19 games in September and then followed that up with .313 and 11 RBIs in 11 games in the Arizona Fall League. Let’s see if this keeps up starting Saturday. Otherwise, shortstop is going to turn into another catcher or third base for the Sox.