Poetry

In the bottom of the first inning in yesterday’s 6-4 White Sox win over the Guardians, rookie shortstop Colson Montgomery crushed a ball 452 feet back to the last row of seats in right field at the old ball-mall. Starting pitcher Davis Martin described what he saw as “beautiful, man, just beautiful. It's something about a lefty swing. Sitting on the bench, we were in the middle of our in-between meeting, and you just hear crack, and you just see everybody's head rip up and we're just like, 'Oh my God, that ball's destroyed.'” [quote from story today on team website] I second that emotion. This is one of the reasons I like Martin—he’s articulate and, in his own way, unfiltered, which means he comes from the Ozzie Guillen School of Speaking. If he can become as good a pitcher as Guillen was a player, so much the better. As for Montgomery, I wish to God someone would explain to me how this transformation has come to be. We’re talking about someone who hit .244 his one season in Double-A ball and .214 his one full season at Triple-A Charlotte, along with .218 this year. So far, the 23-year old lefthanded hitter is batting .238 in 105 at-bats. That comes with nine homeruns; fifteen runs scored; and 25 RBIs. It took Montgomery fifteen games to hit his first big-league homer; he’s hit eight in the sixteen games since. Those numbers suggest the ability to adjust. At least I hope they do. Lest I forget, Lenyn Sosa also homered and drove in three runs. What do you do with a problem like Lenyn? One way or another, we’ll find out.