Colson Montgomery is not looking at his batting average. The White Sox infielder said he is focused on production instead, pointing to on-base percentage, OPS and other numbers he believes help teams win games.
That view comes from a player whose line has drawn attention anyway. Montgomery has a.233 career batting average, but he has also produced a.513 career slugging percentage, a 126 wRC+ and 31 home runs in 111 games. For him, the better test is not how often the hits fall in, but whether the offense keeps moving and the runs keep coming.
“I know a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, they only hit this amount,’” Montgomery said. “I would just look at production; on-base percentage, OPS, things like that, because those things are, I think, what’s going to help you win games. You’re getting on base, you’re driving guys in, driving in runs.”
Montgomery is part of a White Sox group sharing the burden with Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas, and the numbers reflect it. Murakami, Vargas and Montgomery are the only White Sox trio with nine home runs or more, and Montgomery said the three of them are all good at driving in runs. He added that it often feels like Vargas or Murakami is already on base by the time he steps into the box.
“Me, Mune and Vargas, I think we are all really good at it,” Montgomery said. “It just feels like every single time I’m up to bat, either Vargas or Mune, they are on base.” He added, “There’s opportunities to drive guys in,” before joking that “Vargy hits a homer so it’s now back to square one trying to get on base.”
That shared responsibility has helped shape the way the White Sox have talked about Montgomery’s at-bats. Before the season, he described his approach as hunting certain zones in the strike zone, a selectivity that includes taking strikes as part of the plan. This year, that approach has played especially well against left-handed pitching, where he has hit.227/.333/.545.
Hitting coach Derek Shomon said the biggest reason for Montgomery’s success against lefties is not just mechanics but attitude. “There’s also some stuff mechanically that plays to his favor against left-handed pitching, but really the big piece is the mindset of not really caring,” Shomon said. “Left-on-left, this kid doesn’t shy away.” He added of Montgomery, “Colson’s like, ‘OK, what’s he got?’” and said, “You’re going to take strikes,” a nod to the way Montgomery’s patience and selectivity fit his larger approach.
There is still a tradeoff in that style. Montgomery’s career strikeout rate is 29.3 percent, a reminder that his selectivity can lead to empty trips as well as damage when he does get a pitch he wants. The article notes that some of his two-strike takes in the zone line up with where he actually does damage, which suggests the edge in his game is not passive caution but a deliberate gamble on the pitches that matter most.
For now, Montgomery’s message is clear: the batting average is the least interesting number in his own box score. If the on-base percentage, OPS and run production keep climbing, he said, that is the part that counts.
