{"id":478824,"date":"2026-02-20T00:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478824\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T00:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T00:07:08","slug":"prospect-braden-montgomery-ironing-out-his-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478824\/","title":{"rendered":"Prospect Braden Montgomery ironing out his game"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Braden Montgomery experienced just how relentless baseball can be during his first professional season last year with the Chicago White Sox organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a bad game, you have a good game, it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d the outfielder told the Tribune on Sunday at Camelback Ranch. \u201cThe next 18 hours, you are preparing for your next game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very much a process in which you\u2019ve got to have your routines and your habits ironed out because it\u2019s relentless. You\u2019re not going to be able to sit back and wait for the next day because it\u2019s coming, so you\u2019ve got to prepare for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos: An inside look at Chicago White Sox spring training<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Preparation for 2026 is underway for the prospect, who is in Sox camp as a nonroster invitee.<\/p>\n

\u201c(He\u2019s) just a guy that seems really mature the way he goes about his business,\u201d Sox manager Will Venable said Tuesday. \u201cHe has a very thoughtful plan. Everything he does is with a purpose. Not surprising that after a healthy offseason he\u2019s able to turn his body into even more of a weapon than it was before. He\u2019s an extremely physical guy that has put on good weight and looks great out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very driven guy. I think those types of guys want feedback and want to do everything they can to continue to get better, and Braden is just a guy who is really hungry to get better. It\u2019s one of those guys you really like to coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

MLB.com recently ranked Montgomery as the No. 36 prospect in baseball<\/a>. He\u2019s part of the next group of Sox prospects in line to possibly contribute at some point this season.<\/p>\n

This is the second consecutive year Montgomery has received a camp invite.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely different now, kind of understanding what goes into it,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cHaving a better feel for the staff, a better idea of how I want to go into things and start of these bonds with the new clubhouse guys. It\u2019s a lot of turnover. We\u2019ve got a lot of new faces and so it\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s kind of starting over from phase zero. We\u2019re all kind of jumping into the fire together and now in the foxhole. It\u2019s exciting stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

He joined the organization as part of the December 2024 trade that sent pitcher Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox<\/a>. The 2024 first-round pick\u2019s professional career was delayed by a broken right ankle suffered in the NCAA Super Regional with Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoWhite Sox outfield prospect Braden Montgomery takes live batting practice during spring training at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in Glendale, Ariz. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Montgomery, 22, made up for the missed time, compiling a combined .270\/.360\/.444 slash line with 34 doubles, 12 home runs and 68 RBIs in 121 games during 2025 for Class A Kannapolis, High A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a hard game,\u201d he said. \u201cThe lead-up to the game is almost more important than what you do in the game, because your preparation is what\u2019s going to come out once the lights come on you\u2019ve got to put up or shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery\u2019s season was cut short because of a small fracture in his right foot<\/a>. But he did all he could to support his teammates as Birmingham won the Southern League title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always thoroughly enjoyed winning,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cThroughout high school and college, I\u2019ve been blessed enough to be a part of really great teams. Winning is now a part of me, it\u2019s one of my biggest goals and one of the things I\u2019m trying to do the most whenever we step on the field. That\u2019s always going to be the main thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery returned from the injury to play 12 games for the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League, going 15-for-41 (.366) with one home run and 11 RBIs. Infielder Sam Antonacci and pitcher Hagen Smith<\/a> were among the other Sox prospects on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was super glad to be able to play some games after missing that last playoff run in Double A,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cIt was a really good group of guys, I enjoyed being back out here. And the White Sox guys represented really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a great time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The best part was the outside of baseball stuff and being able to create some more bonds throughout baseball and have some more friends across all the different organizations, so it was a really cool experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

This spring, Montgomery is continuing to iron out the details of his game as he works his way through the Sox system.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like every hitter is different, every pitcher is going to attack those hitters a little differently because I\u2019m not going to be the same hitter as (teammates) William Bergolla (Jr.) or that Sam Antonacci is, so I\u2019m probably not going to see the exact same stuff,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cSo I want to do a better job of learning what that will mean for me, what that will mean for how guys are going to attack me 0-0 or 0-2 or after a pitch that I chase on or certain things like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always different details I can figure out and try to understand. I just want to continue taking steps forward in that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Braden Montgomery experienced just how relentless baseball can be during his first professional season last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[138520,206733,2318,363,99,63077,221272,99309],"class_list":{"0":"post-478824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-braden-montgomery","9":"tag-camelback-ranch","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-spring-training","14":"tag-white-sox-spring-training","15":"tag-will-venable"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478824","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=478824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}