My alphabetical-ish review of the White Sox 2025 roster continues with a look at COLSON MONTGOMERY:
*The left-handed hitting shortstop recently finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. Montgomery was the first Sox player to surface in this voting since Luis Robert Jr was second in 2020.
*”Monty” is the first Sox shortstop to get rookie votes since Tim Anderson netted two and placed seventh in 2016. The last time the Sox had a shortstop finish higher in this voting than Montgomery was when Mike Caruso took third in 1998. Other Sox shortstops to get rookie votes were Chico Carrasquel in 1950, Luis Aparicio in 1956, Bucky Dent in 1974 and Ozzie Guillen in 1985.
*Montgomery finished with 21 home runs in 71 games which averages out to 49 bombs over 162 games. 49, by the way, is the club record set by Albert Belle in 1998.
*Montgomery wound up second on the Sox in homers behind Lenyn Sosa’s 22.
*The Holland, Indiana native clubbed 18 of his homers while manning shortstop. Those 18 bombs are a Sox record for rookie shortstops and left-handed hitting shortstops. Anderson previously held the Sox rookie shortstop homer record with nine in 2016 while Caruso previously held the Sox record for left-handed hitting shortstops with five in 1998.
*The only rookie left-handed hitting shortstop who hit more than the 18 home runs Montgomery had in 2025 was Corey Seager, who clubbed 22 homers while playing the position in his Rookie of the Year campaign of 2016 for the Dodgers
*Montgomery’s 21 homers in the second half were the most by a Sox rookie and tied Jim Thome’s 2006 club mark for lefties
*Montgomery joins Mark Johnson, Daryl Boston, Ricky Seilheimer, Harold Baines and Carlos May as the only high schoolers picked in the first round by the Sox to go deep for the Sox.
*Montgomery’s first career dinger of July 22nd set off a binge where he homered in three consecutive games making him the first Sox rookie to do that since Daniel Palka in 2018. Ron Kittle homered in a Sox rookie record 5 straight games in September of 1983
*Montgomery hit .455 at Yankee Stadium which was the highest average by a Sox player making his first trip to New York since 2014 when Jose Abreu hit .500 in his Big Apple debut
*His 21 homers in his first 71 MLB games are tied for 13th all-time (tied for fifth among left-handed hitters) with Willie McCovey … Jose Abreu’s 26 homers for the 2014 Sox are the most ever by a player in his first 71 games.
*His 18 homers are tied with Trevor Story and Fernando Tatis Jr. for the most by a shortstop in his first 71 games.
There’s more I’m sure and I’ll update from time to time … maybe
NEXT: Martin Perez