How was he acquired?

Drafted out of Cypress High School (Ca.) by the Braves in the fifth round of the 2024 draft, Montgomery was given a signing bonus of $997,500 to forego his commitment to Arizona State University and begin his professional career.

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What were the 2025 expectations?

Montgomery did not make his professional debut in 2024, meaning we all had to wait and see what the young backstop could do until the 2025 season.

The primary focus with Montgomery was simply to size him up against professional competition, seeing as though it had been almost a full year since he had faced any live pitching. Another area of intrigue was his glove as most scouts believe he is destined for a corner position — whether that be in the infield or outfield.

2025 results

Overall for Montgomery, it wasn’t exactly an eye-popping year, but it wasn’t all that bad, too.

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Spending the entire season with low-A Augusta, Montgomery put up an OPS of .524 in 306 plate appearances. However, he also swatted five homers and drove in 35 runs over that span as well.

As he was a full year-and-a-half younger than the average age of his competitors, Montgomery was understandably overmatched quite often. In 87 games, the 6’4, 240-pound catcher struck out a whopping 119 strikeouts.

Defensively, Montgomery turned some heads, particularly with his arm as he threw out 26 percent of all would-be base stealers.

It’s not uncommon at all for younger catchers to struggle, particularly at the plate. So Montgomery’s lackluster offensive numbers shouldn’t cause any concern at the moment. He’s young (as he will be 20 for the entirety of the 2026 season) and has the frame and tools to skyrocket if he manages to put together an even halfway decent offensive approach.

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2026 outlook

There’s a good reason to send Montgomery back to Augusta to begin the 2026 season, particularly so he can get into an offensive rhythm before trying to take on another challenge at high-A.

Rome is probably the ceiling for Montgomery this season, as the Braves will want to be careful and bring him along slowly, as is the case with most catching prospects. However, it will be fascinating to see the steps forward Montgomery will take between the 2026-2027 seasons. There is no reason at all that Montgomery can’t become a top-10 prospect in Atlanta’s system before it’s all said and done.