ROY voters take notice of Montgomery's partial season
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CHICAGO -- Finishing fifth in the 2025 American League Rookie of the Year vote, as selected by Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters, probably wasn’t high on Colson Montgomery’s list of achievements going into this season.
But when considering the trials and tribulations handled by the White Sox shortstop throughout the campaign, it’s quite an accomplishment.
Oakland’s Nick Kurtz was an understandable unanimous winner, followed by teammate Jacob Wilson, Boston’s Roman Anthony, Royals hurler Noah Cameron and Montgomery. The top White Sox pick in the 2021 Draft debuted on July 4 in Colorado and knocked out 21 home runs over 71 games, with 55 RBIs, 43 runs scored and an .840 OPS.
This impressive showing came in the same season in which Montgomery was sent from Triple-A Charlotte to the team’s training complex in Glendale, Ariz., on April 28 after early struggles for an extended reset with director of hitting Ryan Fuller. Montgomery took off from there, going from a highly touted question mark to the fulcrum of the White Sox rebuild.
“I always thought he was super talented,” said White Sox amateur scouting director Mike Shirley, who took Montgomery in his second Draft at the helm. “We took him [in the first round] for a reason because we felt like he could have a Major League impact. I do think he’s shown he has the capacity to do that. I do think he’s hungry to continue that process.
“A lot of things fell off his shoulders as he arrived in the Major Leagues. His goal was reached. His goal is to go out every day and help the team win, and that’s an easier goal to accomplish. His success is occurring because he’s a really talented young man. Hopefully, he will do what it takes to continue on this track.”
Not only did Montgomery produce with the bat, but he played solid defense at shortstop and made 12 appearances at third base.
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In the Rookie of the Year balloting, Montgomery received one second-place vote, five fourth-place votes and nine at fifth place for 23 points.
“It was a pretty productive year,” Montgomery said during an end-of-season interview. “It’s just a game of adjustments. I learned a lot about myself, just being able to adjust good or bad, when things are going well or not. I learned a lot about more than just baseball.
“How to deal with some failures. How to attack pitches. I felt like I learned a lot defensively, too, and more mentally being aware of certain things you need to do in certain situations and try to slow the game down as much as you can. Some rookies can probably get stuck into trying to do too much in a situation, when maybe the situation only tells you to do one thing.”
Right-hander Shane Smith, the lone White Sox All-Star this year, earned one fourth-place vote in the Rookie of the Year balloting.