Over the last few weeks, several notable new faces have joined the White Sox. Sam Antonacci and Noah Schultz have debuted this season, and now, Braden Montgomery is set to join that group after a strong year in the upper Minors.
A Look at Montgomery
The Red Sox selected Braden Montgomery, a two-way standout at both Stanford & Texas A&M, in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft. However, Montgomery was not long for the Sox organization, as Boston used its rich cache of prospects to acquire left-hander Garrett Crochet from the White Sox.
The outfielder was packaged in that trade alongside Kyle Teel, a former first-rounder himself, Chase Meidroth, and Wikelman Gonzalez, all three of whom made their MLB debuts before Montgomery. However, Montgomery, who didn’t play a game in the Boston organization after he suffered a season-ending injury during the 2024 NCAA Tournament, was arguably the prospect with the highest ceiling.
Across his first Minor League season, Montgomery didn’t do much to hurt that reputation. Across 121 contests, Montgomery slashed .270/.360/.444 with 12 home runs, 14 stolen bases, and 50 total extra-base hits. He started the 2025 campaign in Low-A and wound up finishing it in Triple-A.
Montgomery started the year in Double-A again and did nothing but hit. The 23-year-old slashed .313/.429/.606 with six home runs and 14 extra-base hits over 27 contests with the Barons. Chicago promoted him to Triple-A in early May, and again, he put up splendid numbers. Twelve extra-base hits, four of which were home runs, over 29 contests, and an OPS over .900.
A switch-hitter, Montgomery didn’t receive too many at-bats (as expected) against lefties. But overall, he slashed .220/.340/.341 against left-handed pitchers, and a strong .337/.442/.598 (1.040 OPS0 versus righties.
From a power standpoint, Montgomery is a special type of hitter, one who showed the ability to effectively drive the ball to the backside. He posted a 10% Barrel% with the Knights.
And, in addition to the pop, Montgomery also showed a penchant for discipline at the plate. Not much chase (23.6% Chase%) in Triple-A, although he showed vulnerability to expand on sliders & sweepers (37%) like many hitters do at the professional levels.
However, Montgomery did show a good amount of swing-and-miss, which shouldn’t be a shock when looking at his strikeout numbers. For reference, across his two pro seasons, Montgomery struck out 194 times (25%).
Among the 362 hitters with at least 80 swings in Triple-A since the start of May, Montgomery’s 33.7% Whiff% was the 49th-highest. And a healthy amount of that was concentrated on pitches inside the zone (24.1%), a figure that was among the 45 highest percentages at that particular level.
Fastballs weren’t his big issue: more so, it was breaking balls and offspeed stuff.
Defensively, Montgomery spent the majority of his games in center field, with a healthy chunk also in right field. Montgomery had a hard fastball in his pitching days, an asset in the field. The 23-year-old had 10 assists in the Minors, seven of which came in right.
The White Sox promoted Braden Montgomery on June 9.
Analysis
Chicago’s outfield has been productive this season, a byproduct of the White Sox receiving production from players who weren’t exactly in the peripheral heading into 2026. Tristan Peters is presently batting over .300, while Randal Grichuk, after a brief stint with the Yankees, hit six home runs over his first 25 contests with the Sox.
Still, Montgomery is one of those pieces who is expected to be a key piece of the White Sox’s future. And from a tools standpoint, there are very few hitters (right now, at least) in the system that have the impact potential that Montgomery possesses.
So, expect Montgomery to get regular time. Even though the White Sox have been a surprise this season, Chicago is still in the midst of figuring out what the future will hold for this team.
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