The White Sox plan to call up top prospect Colson Montomery from Triple-A Charlotte, and the 23-year-old shortstop is expected to make his major-league debut against the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field Friday night.
Manager Will Venable would not comment on media reports out of Indiana that Montgomery, the 22nd overall pick of the 2021 draft out of Southridge (Ind.) High School, would be joining the big-league club.
But a person familiar with the move but not authorized to speak publicly about it confirmed that Montgomery will be promoted to play shortstop and that Chase Meidroth will be moved from shortstop to second base.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Montgomery, rated the fifth-best prospect in the organization by mlb.com, is batting .218 with a .733 OPS, 11 home runs, 10 doubles and 30 RBIs in 55 games for Charlotte this season.
The left-handed-hitting slugger got off to a slow start this season, with a .149 average and three homers in April. But he began to heat up in May and was batting .284 with a 1.003 OPS, six homers and 17 RBIs since June 5. He was named International League player of the week on June 30 after going 11 for 22 with seven extra-base hits.
Montgomery has drawn comparisons to Corey Seager because of his size, raw power and strong arm, but there is plenty of swing-and-miss in his game, with 82 strikeouts and 19 walks in 242 triple-A plate appearances this season.
Crash course
The scene around the third-base bag in the sixth inning Wednesday night looked like the ending of a bizarre heavyweight fight, where both boxers knocked each other out.
Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy and White Sox center fielder Michael A. Taylor were both on their back being evaluated by athletic trainers after the head-first-sliding Taylor’s helmet collided with Muncy’s left knee on a stolen-base attempt.
Muncy got the worst of the violent collision. Taylor was not in Thursday night’s lineup–”I’m a little stiff and sore today,” he said–but he cleared concussion protocol and will not be placed on the injured list.
Muncy, who hit .333 with a 1.113 OPS, seven homers and 24 RBIs in June, suffered a left-knee bruise, was placed on the injured list and will be out for six to eight weeks.
“When you look at the play and the injury that could have happened, we possibly got a best-case scenario,” Muncy said. “There’s no structural damage, which is huge. That was definitely a relief. It’s a tough blow because I’m looking at six to eight weeks, but I still get to play baseball this year instead of coming back next April.”
With the throw from catcher Will Smith, Muncy and Taylor arriving in the same spot at the same time, there was little Taylor could do to avoid the collision.
“I honestly didn’t see him,” Taylor said. “When I went into my slide, he wasn’t at the bag yet. Then I dive in with my head-down, so I never saw him. Watching the replay, I saw his leg was right in front of the base. I’m not sure there was anything more I could do at that point because I was already committed to my dive.”
The incredible bulk
Lost in the fanfare of Clayton Kershaw’s 3,000th career strikeout and Freddie Freeman’s walk-off RBI single Wednesday night was a superb bulk-inning effort by White Sox right-hander Sean Burke, who gave up a home run to Andy Pages on his first pitch and then blanked the Dodgers on five hits over six innings.
“I feel like everything was working,” said Burke, who struck out five and walked one after taking over for opener Brandon Eisert to start the second inning of an eventual 5-4 loss. “Obviously this is a tough lineup to face.
“I feel like you can’t really try to beat them over and over with the same stuff. We tried to mix some things up, give them different looks. We get them out one way one time and the next at-bat take a different route to get there.”
