Colson Montgomery was the 95th-ranked prospect by MLB.com when the White Sox promoted him for his Major League debut on July 4, 2025. So coming in at No. 88 on MLB Network’s top-100 player list for the 2026 season shows just how impressive Montgomery was as a rookie. He’s now among the main reasons for optimism on the South Side next season.
Only the bottom 20 of this list has been released so far, and Montgomery was one of three shortstops to make the cut so far, along with Zach Neto (3.1 fWAR in 2025) and Willy Adames (4.0 fWAR in 2025). Montgomery is also the only White Sox player listed, but former White Sox pitchers Dylan Cease and Carlos Rodon snuck in at the very end.
Here’s the list.
100. SP Dylan Cease, Toronto Blue Jays99. SP Carlos Rodon, New York Yankees98. C/DH Ivan Herrera, St. Louis Cardinals97. C Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies96. C Drake Baldwin, Atlanta Braves95. C/1B Ben Rice, New York Yankees94. OF Kerry Carpenter, Detroit Tigers93. 1B Vinnie Pasquantino, Kansas City Royals92. C Shea Langeliers, Athletics91. OF Brent Rooker, Athletics90. SP Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds89. SP Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals88. SS Colson Montgomery, Chicago White Sox87. SS Zach Neto, Los Angeles Angels86. SS Willy Adames, San Francisco Giants85. 3B Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants84. RP Aroldis Chapman, Boston Red Sox83. RP Edwin Diaz, Los Angeles Dodgers82. OF Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels81. 2B/OF Jose Altuve, Houston AstrosColson Montgomery’s 2025 season
Chicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery (12) at bat against the San Diego Padres at Rate Field. | Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images
Things weren’t looking good for Montgomery at the start of the season in Triple-A Charlotte, where he hit .143 with 43 strikeouts in his first 103 plate appearances. So the White Sox took a somewhat unorthodox approach and sent their 2021 first-round pick to Arizona to work with director of hitting Ryan Fuller.
That seemed to do wonders for Montgomery, who was more productive upon returning to Triple-A and eventually earned a Major League promotion on July 4. What followed was a historic stretch, as the 6-foot-3 left-handed hitter slugged 18 home runs in 37 games from July 22 to Sept. 5.
Montgomery third in MLB with 53 RBI after the All-Star break, only behind Vinnie Pasquantino (57) and Kyle Schwarber (63). Along with strong shortstop defense, he finished the season with a .239/.311/.529 slash line, 21 home runs, 55 RBI, nine doubles, 25 walks, 83 strikeouts and 2.7 fWAR in 284 plate appearances.
What to expect from Montgomery in 2026
Chicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery (12) celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. | Brad Mills-Imagn Images
FanGraphs DC projections have Montgomery hitting 27 home runs and driving in 78 runs while slashing .221/.299/.418 with an 8.7% walk rate and a 29.1% strikeout rate. That comes out to a slight decrease in fWAR from 2.7 to 2.5 and a drop in wRC+ from 129 to 98, which would be below the league average of 100.
It’s not Montgomery’s game as a power hitter to bat .300, or even .280, and the White Sox shouldn’t –– and won’t –– try to turn him into that. In 71 games last season, he was on a 40-plus home run pace across 162 games. And in order to maximize that high-end skill, Montgomery is going to continue to try to pull the ball hard in the air as much as possible. With that comes a lower batting average.
At the same time, signs of improvement from Montgomery in 2026 could be a higher walk rate and a lower strikeout rate. MLB’s top five slugging percentage leaders in 2025 had walk rates of at least 11.8%, and just one of the top 20 (Eugenio Suarez) had a higher strikeout rate than Montgomery. Rather than focusing strictly on the batting average, progress for Montgomery could come in the form of more walks and fewer strikeouts.
Will any other White Sox make this list?
Chicago White Sox catcher Kyle Teel (8) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Baltimore Orioles at Rate Field. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Without seeing the bottom 20 players, it’d be reasonable to think a few White Sox could possibly make the top 100. But after seeing catchers Ivan Herrera, Hunter Goodman, Drake Baldwin, Ben Rice and Shea Langeliers in the 80-100 range, it’s probably safe to rule out Kyle Teel.
FanGraphs projects Munetaka Murakami to hit more home runs and post a higher wRC+ than Montgomery in 2026, but come up 0.2 short in WAR. It’s a bit more difficult to project exactly who Murakami will be in 2026 since he hasn’t faced MLB pitching, and given some of the names on the list already, it’s likely he’s on the outside looking in.
Luis Robert Jr. has the name recognition to be considered for this list. But he’s been far too inconsistent at the plate in recent seasons to be a surefire pick, despite his strong center field defense and base-stealing ability.
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