White Sox select shortstop Colson Montgomery with team's first pick (22nd overall) of the 2021 MLB Draft

The Chicago White Sox selected shortstop Colson Montgomery from Southridge High School in Huntingburg, Ind., with the organization’s first pick (22nd overall) in tonight’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Montgomery, 19, batted .333 with nine doubles, seven home runs, 23 RBI and 42 runs scored during his senior season with Southridge, when he helped guide the Raiders to the IHSAA Class 3A state championship. The Holland, Ind., native was an All-America Second Team selection by Baseball America and MaxPreps.

“Colson is an outstanding young talent who we fully believe will stay at shortstop at the professional level,” said Mike Shirley, White Sox director of amateur scouting. “At the plate, he shows substantial hit and power to profile, and he is a three-sport athlete — a shortstop, quarterback and point guard — who has chosen to take his baseball career to the next level.”

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Montgomery entered the 2021 draft rated by MLB.com as the No. 25 overall, No. 7 infield and No. 14 high school prospect. He was a three-sport athlete at Southridge, playing baseball, basketball and football.

Montgomery, who bats left and throws right, is the first shortstop drafted by the White Sox in the first round since 2021 All-Star Tim Anderson in the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

Montgomery joins left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet (2020, 11th overall), first baseman Andrew Vaughn (2019, third), infielder Nick Madrigal (2018, fourth), third baseman Jake Burger (2017, 11th), catcher Zack Collins (2016, 10th), right-handed pitchers Zack Burdi (2016, 26th) and Carson Fulmer (2015, eighth), left-hander Carlos Rodón (2014, third) and infielder Tim Anderson (2013, 17th) as the White Sox most recent first-round selections.

Montgomery was recommended by White Sox scout Justin Wechsler.

Eighteen White Sox draft selections, including eight of their previous nine first-round picks, have contributed at the major-league level this season, including 13 on the current 26-man roster. The six current first-round draft selections on the White Sox active roster are the most of any team in baseball, with no other major-league team featuring more than four first-round picks on its active roster.

The Sox next selection (57th pick overall) will be made tomorrow during the second round of the MLB Draft. The draft will begin at Noon CT with the start of the second round and will continue through the completion of Round 10.