CINCINNATI — The positive signs appeared in Colson Montgomery’s first at-bat Tuesday.
Batting with a runner on third and one out in the first inning on the road against Gwinnett, Montgomery came through with an RBI single to right field.
It was the first of two hits for the shortstop in his return to Triple-A Charlotte after spending nearly two weeks at the Chicago White Sox’s Arizona complex working on his swing.
“He did a good job with using the time well,” assistant general manager Josh Barfield said Tuesday at Great American Ball Park, where the Sox were scheduled to open a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. “Not getting off to the start that he wanted to, part of it was being able to hit the reset button … mentally.
“There’s the grind that you always hear about in the game, and being able to take some time to get away from that grind and really focus on getting his swing back locked in, he went down there with (director of hitting Ryan) Fuller. And to his credit, he went down there with the right mindset and he was ready to work. They got after it every day. And day by day, got a little bit better, a little bit cleaner.”
Some of those results were on display Tuesday.
“By the time he left (Arizona), he felt like he was in a much better spot than when he had left (Charlotte),” Barfield said. “And today he had two hits, hit a few balls hard. Had to hit off (Craig) Kimbrel his last at-bat. More importantly, he just looked more like himself today. So hopefully he can continue to build off of that.”
A first-round pick in 2021, Montgomery had a .149/.223/.255 slash line with three home runs and six RBIs in 23 games with the Knights before the plan was put in motion for one-on-one time in Arizona with Fuller. General manager Chris Getz announced the move April 29 with the intention of it being a short stint.
Montgomery is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 6 prospect in the Sox system. Indicators of improvement included how he controlled the zone.
“When you start to get in a rut, you start to chase hits a little bit,” Barfield said. “And he was doing a little bit of that. So getting back to really controlling the zone. And there were some mechanical things and cues that he’s working on. Some of the stuff with his lower half, just being a little cleaner, a little bit more square.
“We saw that today in the game, so those are positive things. When he’s right in his path, he can cover the whole plate, use the whole field. And he’s got tremendous power to all fields.”
Hall of Fame Negro Leagues
George Walker IV/AP White Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield, right, and CC Sabathia, left, respond to questions during a news conference about the Hall of Fame East-West Classic on Dec. 5, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV/AP)
It’s a strategy Barfield saw turn out well when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks for shortstop Geraldo Perdomo.
“It doesn’t always work out, but one that worked out great was Geraldo Perdomo,” Barfield said. “I think it was maybe in 2021, he was in Double A and just really, really struggled. He was like two-plus months into the season, hitting a buck-something and just completely lost.
“So we pulled the plug and for the first almost week, he didn’t pick up a bat. We sent him back to Arizona, it was about a month he was out. Completely rebuilt the swing, just starting from the ground up.
“And when he came back, he ended up having a good finish to the minor-league season and ended up getting called up. And a year-plus later, he’s a big-league All-Star and nobody remembers that part of it. But it was a big turning point in his career.”
Barfield said it wasn’t as extensive a case for Montgomery.
“No, they’re much more tweaks than a rebuild,” he said. “It was getting back to a lot of those feels that he had before and getting better coverage over the plate. Being able to handle pitches in all four quadrants to put himself in a position for his tools to play out.
“That really was a focus. It doesn’t look, to the naked eye, like, ‘Oh, man, this is completely different.’ It’s more subtle changes.”
Colson isn’t the only Montgomery the Sox are keeping a close eye on. Outfielder Braden Montgomery, acquired in the offseason trade that sent Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox, has had a hot start to his professional career.
After batting .304 with three home runs and 19 RBIs in 18 games with Class A Kannapolis, Montgomery entered Tuesday hitting .405 with three home runs and 12 RBIs in 12 games with Class A Winston-Salem. MLB.com ranks Montgomery as the Sox’s No. 4 prospect and the No. 38 prospect in baseball.
“We probably could have sent him to Winston to start out the year, but we wanted to make sure he got his feet underneath him,” Barfield said, referring to Montgomery’s pro debut getting delayed last season because of a broken ankle suffered in an NCAA super regional with Texas A&M. “Got off to a good start and he hit the ground running and he hasn’t looked back. He’s gone up to Winston and he’s hitting even better.
“It’s the quality of the at-bats and really from both sides, which has been really encouraging. In college he was a better hitter lefty than he was righty, and we’re seeing production from both sides. Having him run around out there in center field, he’s doing a nice job. Just the teammate he is, he’s been really impressive all the way around.”
