Colson Montgomery makes his home debut with the Chicago White Sox
CHICAGO AP Colson Montgomery traveled a bumpy road from top prospect to the major leagues The young shortstop was joined on the journey by the Chicago White Sox That made Monday night even sweeter for the performer and the rebuilding crew Montgomery made his home debut for Chicago in an - loss to Toronto going for with a walk and scoring a run He also made a nice diving stop on Alejandro Kirk s grounder up the middle in the fourth inning The Indiana native played in his first major league match on Friday night at Colorado and went for while helping the last-place White Sox take two of three against the Rockies I m just so happy to be part of this organization and them just believing in me to be honest a showing joy Montgomery commented Because there s a lot that goes into you know last year you don t really play the best and then you start this year not really playing the best And there was just never a doubt in their mind with the White Sox The -year-old Montgomery received a warm welcome from the crowd of when he batted for the first time in the second It felt great just because you work pretty much your whole life for that opportunity he disclosed So then once he explained my name and I got in the box and heard the fans cheering it was pretty special Montgomery was a first-round pick in the amateur draft He appeared to be on his way to a big league debut last season but he had a tough year with Charlotte He batted with homers and RBIs striking out times in games He had a chance to make the major league gang in spring training but he was sent back to Charlotte in March He was batting just for when the White Sox decided to have him go to Arizona to work with Ryan Fuller who was hired in November as the organization s director of hitting Ultimately it just came down to just really finding this routine that we ve kind of I guess you could say fine-tuned Montgomery mentioned And I mean I m just trying to perfect that routine and then go out there and execute it Montgomery s work with Fuller along with the reset that went along with time away from games helped him find his form He hit for after returning to Charlotte earning a promotion He went hitless in his debut against the Rockies but he robbed Ryan Ritter with a terrific catch in the second inning He hit an RBI triple for his first big league hit on Saturday I m really proud of him White Sox general manager Chris Getz declared We talked now it was months ago you know I gave him a call and just to kind of do a little check in and you know he s going through it He was really struggling and I disclosed Hey you know we re going to figure this out You re going to figure this out You just can t quit And he goes I m not going to quit And he didn t The series opener against the Blue Jays also was the unit s first home encounter since former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks died on Friday in Portugal where he was being treated for a form of stomach cancer He was Fans placed flowers in Jenks memory at the World Series monument outside the ballpark and the gang honored the two-time All-Star with a highlight video and a pregame moment of silence Getz who played with Jenks in and with the White Sox commented the closer had a big heart He was just this the greater part fun-loving kid Getz announced And obviously a tremendous competitor you know on the mound He didn t have an easy life He didn t I know that his family s got to be really going through it right now It s obviously really sad AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source
