Twice in the same week? Montgomery out again after fouling ball off shin

CHICAGO – Colson Montgomery was out of action for the White Sox in Sunday’s series finale against the Astros after fouling a pitch off his right shin area in the ninth inning of a 4-1 loss Saturday night.

Montgomery stayed in the game and singled home a run, ending a stretch of 13 straight unanswered runs by Houston since the sixth inning Friday. Sunday was his second missed game this week after the shortstop sat out July 21 in Arlington because … he fouled a pitch off the same general area this past Monday.

“It was above it. I have the regular guard and then I had like a custom guard above the other one and it hit right above it,” Montgomery said. “The other spot was already still pretty inflamed and tight and sore. So, I think this one kind of hitting near it kind of just pissed it off a little bit more.

“I feel all right. It’s obviously sore and tight and [uncomfortable]. But same thing as before. It’s not going to be a long time thing. Just something we have to get ahead of right now so it doesn’t linger. Especially this time of year too, heading into the dog days of August. You don’t really want to be kind of lingering with little things.”

When Montgomery does return, he’ll have the opportunity to employ a new sort of shin guard created by teammate Kyle Teel. Montgomery was sitting at his locker following Saturday night’s foul ball misfortune when Teel approached him and said he had an idea.

“He brought his [catcher’s] shin guard over and I was like, ‘Teel, I’m not wearing a shin guard.’ It wouldn’t hurt if you hit a ball off of it. But it would be hard to move,” a smiling Montgomery said. “Teel, his mind is, everyone knows how Teel is. He’s able to come up with some things and all he did was cut up his shin guard.

“So, he cut the toe flap of his catching gear and then the knee part. So it kind of was like a piece of an Ironman suit, is what it seemed like. I was like, ‘Thanks, Teel.’ It feels good, but I’m probably not going to use it.”

Montgomery’s guess is that the Teel-created shin guard would be baseball-legal but wouldn’t be very comfortable.

“Yeah, he told me in the training room that he was kind of trying to make up some more things. So I’m interested to see what he has to do,” Montgomery said. “I’m going to use the Jorge Soler, something like what he wears.”

Through 169 career games from the time Montgomery debuted on July 4, 2025, the 24-year-old has 45 home runs, 114 RBIs, 26 doubles and a .793 OPS. He also has learned how to handle the pain over the course of a season, knowing when to push and when to take a day as he did Sunday.

“You have to be smart about it. You have to think big picture and stuff,” Montgomery said. “All of us in here have played through a lot of stuff. I think the training staff and coaches and everyone here, they thought it was a smart idea to let it calm down. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned is when to push it and when to not.

“If it’s going to limit your ability to be at somewhat of your best, I feel like that’s when you need to take a step back. You think, ‘Is this going to help the team or is it not going to help the team?’”

Montgomery felt he could have pushed through and played Sunday. But the shin was tight and sore.

“I anticipate I’m playing [Monday],” Montgomery said. “It’s just something we needed to get through today, do some treatment, the kind of things to flush out swelling.”

“Great to hear that he thinks he's going to be in there [Monday],” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “We're obviously hopeful about that. But I also wouldn't be surprised, knowing how good it got him again, if he was out [again]."