{"id":471068,"date":"2026-02-16T01:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T01:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/471068\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T01:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T01:08:10","slug":"colson-montgomery-looks-to-expand-consistency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/471068\/","title":{"rendered":"Colson Montgomery looks to expand consistency"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Chicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery arrived at previous spring training camps with the mindset of having something to prove.<\/p>\n

That thought process hasn\u2019t changed, even after hitting 21 home runs in 71 games as a rookie in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still trying to prove myself \u2014 trying to prove myself to the league and trying to prove myself to myself of coming in every single day and being the best person and player I can be,\u201d Montgomery said on Saturday at Camelback Ranch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of really good coaches and teammates who bring that out of me. I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery had been one of several early-arriving position players at this year\u2019s camp. The Sox held their first full squad workout of the spring on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Montgomery was among the players working on fundamentals such as secondary leads on the bases before taking a few cuts in the cages.<\/p>\n

The next steps he\u2019d like to take in his overall game for 2026 center on consistency.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery fields a ground ball hit by Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia in the sixth inning of a game at Rate Field in Chicago on Aug. 26, 2025. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cJust consistently getting better, putting in my work and preparation and learning the game,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cThe more I watch the game, the more I feel like I get better. You think you see everything in baseball and then there\u2019s something that happens that\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s continuing to adapt and not really be satisfied, I guess you could say. Yeah, I had a good second half, but this next year, now they have more scouting on me. They know what I like and don\u2019t like. I just have to keep adapting. Keep being a competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery, who turns 24 on Feb. 27, had a .239\/.311\/.529 slash line with the 21 home runs and 55 RBIs last season after reaching the majors on July 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see what he can do over an entire season will be fun,\u201d Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi said.<\/p>\n

Montgomery\u2019s 2025 journey included a pause in late April while with Triple-A Charlotte to partake in individual work on his swing<\/a> at the organization\u2019s Arizona facility. He returned to Triple A after a couple of weeks and eventually made his way to the big leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201c(2025) didn\u2019t start off the best or exactly where you wanted to be,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cSometimes that\u2019s just what happens. Had a really good support system with my family and the front office with the White Sox. They have always believed in me. They never really doubted me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole Arizona trip, it wasn\u2019t a doubt thing. (It was) \u2018We do believe in you and we just want to get it right.\u2019 It was one of the best things for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery hits a two-run home run in the fifth inning of a game against the Minnesota Twins at Rate Field in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2025. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The 2021 first-round draft pick<\/a> looks to continue growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cColson went through last year, and it was a great year,\u201d manager Will Venable said on Saturday. \u201cHe\u2019s still working to be a complete hitter and just continue to progress and develop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect a guy who is making good decisions at the plate. We know about the power. There\u2019s some pitches that he struggled with last year that we want to make sure that he\u2019s able to cover this year, and he\u2019s going to be working on those things.\u201d<\/p>\n

All 21 of Montgomery\u2019s home runs came in the second half, as did 53 of the 55 RBIs. He hit the fifth-most home runs in the majors after the 2025 All-Star break and ranked third in RBIs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to overstate how impressive what he did last year was,\u201d assistant general manager Josh Barfield said on Thursday. \u201cFrom an offensive standpoint, being able to make an adjustment like that on the fly, getting pulled out of the (Triple A) season (for the work at the Arizona facility) and then going back and having the success he did at the big leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically guys, when they get to the big leagues, struggle and you have to make that adjustment and you figure it out a little bit. But he hit the ground running and never really looked back offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barfield also noted Montgomery\u2019s steady defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause he hit so many homers and was so good offensively, the defense kind of got overlooked,\u201d Barfield said. \u201cHe played really good defense at short, which is incredibly hard to do. Now it\u2019s continuing to build off that success, the consistency on the defensive side.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd offensively, as great a year as he had, there\u2019s still some things he knows he can improve on. With him, you\u2019ve heard about the prospect status for all these years, and for good reason. And we got to see glimpses of it. But I still think that his best days are ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Chicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery arrived at previous spring training camps with the mindset…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[208941,2318,108000,363,2008,99,63077],"class_list":{"0":"post-471068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-cactus-league","9":"tag-chicago-white-sox","10":"tag-colson-montgomery","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-mlb-baseball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-spring-training"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}