CINCINNATI \u2014 Something might have clicked for Colson Montgomery<\/b> in the desert.<\/p>\n
At least that\u2019s what the White Sox are hoping for their prized shortstop prospect, who returned to Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday after spending two weeks at the team\u2019s training facility in Arizona to work on his ice-cold swing.<\/p>\n
Montgomery\u2019s bat showed signs of thawing from his woeful start to the season, as he went 2-for-5 with two singles, an RBI and a strikeout in the Knights\u2019 8-5 victory against the Gwinnett Stripers.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018He went down there with a great mentality; he really, really got after it,\u2019\u2019 Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield<\/b> said of Montgomery\u2019s detour to Arizona, a situation he acknowledged was \u2018\u2018delicate.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I think knowing that the goal was to put him on a fast trajectory to get back to where we all know he could be \u2014 and eventually up here \u2014 I think he went into it with the right mindset, and he got a lot out of it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Team brass yanked Montgomery, the Sox\u2019 first-round draft pick in 2021, from the Charlotte roster April 29 after he stumbled to a miserable .149\/.223\/.255 slash line in the first 23 games of the season.<\/p>\n
That followed his disappointing Triple-A showing last season and his failure to crack the big-league roster out of spring training this season. Meanwhile, Montgomery has slid from No. 4 to No. 6 in the Sox\u2019 MLB Pipeline prospect rankings and from No. 34 in MLB out of the top 100 altogether.<\/p>\n
His numbers hardly looked any better in five games in the Arizona Complex League in the last two weeks. He went 3-for-17 with two RBI, two walks and four strikeouts.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018[But] we weren\u2019t really chasing results in the games down there,\u2019\u2019 Barfield said. \u2018\u2018It was more getting him in a good spot, a good feel. And by the time he left there, he felt like he was in a much better spot than when he had left [Charlotte]. More importantly, he just looked more like himself today. So hopefully he can continue to build off of that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Barfield highlighted \u2018\u2018some mechanical things and cues that he\u2019s working on. Some of the stuff with his lower half, just being a little cleaner, a little bit more square.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Montgomery looked comfortable for the Knights in a game that offered a kaleidoscope of the Sox\u2019 most recent contending past and their rebuilding present.<\/p>\n
His second hit came against former Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel<\/b>, who is trying to claw his way back to the majors in the Braves\u2019 organization along with former Sox catcher James McCann<\/b>, who served as the Stripers\u2019 designated hitter.<\/p>\nAnother Montgomery gets hot<\/h3>\n
The arrow has been pointing in the other direction for minor-league outfielder Braden Montgomery<\/b>, who was named the South Atlantic League player of the week Sunday, just two weeks after making the jump from Single-A Kannapolis to High-A Winston-Salem.<\/p>\n
His 10-for-21 tear included two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018He\u2019s crazy-talented,\u2019\u2019 Barfield said. \u2018\u2018We probably could have sent him to Winston to start out the year, but we wanted to make sure he got his feet underneath him. .\u2009.\u2009. He\u2019s gone up to Winston, and he\u2019s hitting even better.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Rain delayed the start of the Sox-Reds game, but center fielder Luis Robert Jr.<\/b> and infielder Miguel Vargas<\/b> were back in the lineup after missing two games with knee and calf soreness, respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The shortstop went 2-for-5 in his return to Triple-A Charlotte and is in “a much better spot,” assistant general manager Josh Barfield said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":55052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n