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CHICAGO -- Colson Montgomery interacted with shortstop Tim Anderson when Montgomery was called up a couple of times from the Minor League side to big league Spring Training last year.

Those conversations figure to be a bit more in-depth in 2023, as the No. 1 White Sox prospect and No. 38 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline received his first invitation to Major League camp.

“It will probably be more about basketball,” said the 20-year-old shortstop during a Friday conversation with MLB.com.

Montgomery was the all-time leading scorer as a shooting guard for Southridge High School in Huntingburg, Ind., while Anderson played the point for Hillcrest High School’s 6A state title team in Alabama. But don’t look for any one-on-one pickup games between these exceptional athletes.

The upcoming weeks in Glendale, Ariz., will be a back-to-school session for Montgomery. He should get some Cactus League at-bats and a few games in the field, but Montgomery will gain just as much simply by talking, listening and observing.

“I think it’s just the experience of going against the best-of-the-best pitching and also playing against the best of the best, even hitting and fielding and position players,” Montgomery said. “It would be cool to sit there and see how they interact and how they interact with the game. Pick their brains, ask questions about all that stuff.”

After being selected with the 22nd overall pick in the 2021 Draft, the left-handed hitter played with Single-A Kannapolis, High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham during his first full season in ‘22. He put together a 50-game on-base streak between Kannapolis and Winston-Salem, which ended in a game in which he swung at a 3-0 pitch out of the zone in his first plate appearance and had a hit taken away in the ninth.

Montgomery’s statistics dropped over 48 at-bats as part of “Project Birmingham,” but White Sox assistant general manager of player development Chris Getz said numbers didn’t really matter in this special experience. Montgomery also went from getting four or five at-bats five times per week to three at-bats three times per week to accommodate everyone’s playing time.

The Birmingham situation illustrated the difference in competition for Montgomery, who posted an .810 OPS, 11 home runs and 47 RBIs overall. Per his example, opposing pitchers went from trying to throw strikes at the lower level to having a distinct plan to retire hitters in Double-A.

Montgomery has been working in Nashville this offseason with a Major League crew, including teammates Jake Burger and Sean Burke, trying to be more explosive through strength and conditioning plus working on his first-step quickness. His learning curve soon will continue at Camelback Ranch, with Montgomery turning to not just Anderson but other veterans.

“It’s really cool to see how they work, how they do their routine,” Montgomery said. “It really helps when you are a young player, when you see a Major Leaguer do all that stuff.

“Your goal is to be where they are at. It’s just good to take those mental notes being a young player.”