![\"BALTIMORE,](\"https:\/\/platform.southsidesox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/148\/2026\/03\/gettyimages-2227451414.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a><\/p>\nContributions from the under-the-radar Cedric Mullins helped make Baltimore a playoff contender, however briefly. (Photo by Patrick Smith\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Things look more promising for the Sox this time around. When the decision was made to tear down the core that brought home the 2021 AL Central crown, nobody knew that Shane Smith was going to be in the plans as a Top 3 starter, and I can\u2019t think of another Sox prospect who\u2019s ever rebounded from \u201cseems like a bust\u201d to \u201cpossibly a superstar\u201d like Colson Montgomery.<\/p>\n
Over the next couple of weeks, I\u2019m going to be identifying and breaking down five players on the Sox roster who could potentially be those unexpected building blocks \u2014 and what it means for the team if it ever comes to fruition.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get straight to the point here. I want you to look at an assortment of hand-picked stats from three young Sox players, measured from July 3-onward last year.<\/p>\n
Player A, as you\u2019ve probably gathered from the massive slugging number and perhaps conspicuous cutoff date, is Colson Montgomery. Player B probably isn\u2019t hard to pin down as Kyle Teel, who\u2019s probably second to Montgomery in terms of excitement generated for future Sox teams, and whose numbers are particularly exciting for a solid receiver behind the plate.<\/p>\n Player C, though? That\u2019s Brooks Baldwin, who was called back up to the majors on July 1 last season and proceeded to hold his own with the best of the Sox young talent the rest of the way (albeit with a bit less playing time). It\u2019s not an exaggeration to say that he came as close to matching Montgomery\u2019s absurd second-half output as anybody else on the Sox, especially when you look at the batted-ball metrics.<\/p>\n Interesting! Very Interesting!<\/p>\n Let\u2019s turn this into a quick deep-ish dive on what exactly happened between his initial demotion in May and final recall to Chicago in July. I found a real short answer: He figured out how to hit fastballs in the air instead of on the ground.<\/p>\n In fact, I wrote this entire article before I realized video existed of the kid going oppo-taco on a Spencer Strider fastball. The same Spencer Strider whose entire shtick is, hey, you can\u2019t hit me because I consistently throw a four-seamer up in the zone faster than you can blink.<\/p>\n Baldwin\u2019s bat speed isn\u2019t elite, but it\u2019s not unplayable either. Even when he\u2019s struggled, he\u2019s made solid contact, posting above-average exit velocities at every measured level. When he came back from Charlotte at the beginning of July, all of that hard contact suddenly started going places where it could do actual damage. His overall fly ball percentage jumped from 30% to 48% after that call-up!<\/p>\n I\u2019m pretty embarrassed I didn\u2019t notice it before. It didn\u2019t take a lot more diving to locate the specific place of improvement, either.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n