White Sox Prospect Colson Montgomery 'On A Positive Track' After Arizona Stint

CHICAGO – General manager Chris Getz considers the White Sox an open-minded organization, and their recent strategy with prospect Colson Montgomery is a prime example.

Montgomery – the team's No. 6 prospect who recently dropped out of MLB Pipeline's top 100 rankings – got off to a woeful start in Triple-A, batting .149 with 43 strikeouts in 103 plate appearances. So instead of seeing if he could work out of his slump while playing games in Charlotte, or waiting until the offseason to take action, they sent him to Arizona for about two weeks for individualized work with White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller.

"We feel like he's on track and now he can view his season from the point where he returned to Charlotte and just move forward," White Sox general manager Chris Getz said Friday at Wrigley Field. "I know there's definitely optimism in his mind now, which perhaps was hard to find before."

White Sox assistant general manager Josh Barfield said earlier in the week in Cincinnati that Montgomery's swing adjustments were much more tweaks than a full rebuild. And since returning to Triple-A on Tuesday, the changes have worked.

Across four games and 18 plate appearances while playing shortstop, he has six hits, three doubles, four RBI, one walk and three strikeouts.

"He's had a good restart," Getz said. "Fun to see him get a knock his first at-bat, get two hits. ... Strikeouts are down. We feel like he's on a positive track. Happy for him considering what he's gone through, but also happy for the organization. We acted on that one and another example of a process that we feel like was working."

Along with the mechanical adjustments, Getz believes Montgomery also benefitted mentally from his time in Arizona.

"There's the mental grind of going through slumps and struggles, where you want to make these adjustments, but you can't in the current environment you're in, so you take a step out and kind of detach yourself," Getz said. "You can then really dial in on what needs to be adjusted. The mental break can do wonders for anyone. We can apply that to any of our lives, where sometimes you just need to get away, get a greater perspective on things, then reset and get back to work."