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  "path": "/white-sox/2026/02/26/white-sox-shortstop-colson-montgomery-will-venable",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-27T01:35:49.557Z",
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  "textContent": "<p>GLENDALE, Ariz. — Here’s how <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox\" >White Sox</a> shortstop Colson Montgomery best flashed leadership the other day: By hitting a home run.</p><p>Say what you want about the value of intangibles and things that leaders voice in clubhouses, nothing beats a good example like launching a baseball over the fence, as Montgomery did 21 times in 71 games and 255 plate appearances last season. Or consistently making the routine play and occasionally charging in or ranging up the middle to make an exceptional one.</p><p>“A lot of people in this clubhouse can have that leadership role,” Montgomery, who turns 24 Friday, said, “but you want to lead by example.”</p><p>And that’s what manager Will Venable is telling his players. Get out of the batter’s box hard, play hard, don’t take a pitch off or give up an at-bat.</p><p>“And that’s all you can do,” Montgomery said. “And if that's a leadership role, a lot of us have that. That’s what everyone wants to do in here. Play as hard as they can, and the best they can.”</p><p>In addition to recovering from a hitting funk to post an .840 OPS with after he was called up from Triple-A Charlotte for his debut on the Fourth of July, the 6-4 Montgomery, a high school first-round draft pick in 2021, seemed to put questions about whether he belonged at shortstop to rest, too.</p><p>“I feel like my defensive confidence is at an all-time high,” he said.</p><p>In addition to his first step in the field, he attributes his steady defensive play to the focus and intent he alluded to talking about leadership. That starts with his pre-pitch setup.</p><p>“Because when I’m on time with that and I have the intent and mindset of the ball is being hit to me every single time, it keeps me more locked in and engaged every single play,” Montgomery said. “And makes me feel like I have better range, too.”</p><p>Montgomery was ill and sidelined two days this week but quickly got back into the swing of things when he homered on a 3-0 pitch from the Reds’ Lyon Richardson on Wednesday.</p><p>After dealing with the disappointment of getting sent out of major league camp last season, he finds himself entrenched as one of the rebuilding Sox’ higher-profile guys.</p><p>“I’ve been on two different ends of it,” he said. “The end where you come in and you try to make the team and you feel like you’ve got all the world, the pressure on you and you come in and you have a lot less pressure to come in and do what you need to do to get yourself ready to play every day. I just feel like this year, in spring, I have a better understanding of what I have to do at the plate and even defensively. Not just in the game, but in my work.”</p><p>Montgomery’s offseason work has been apparent to Venable.</p><p>“He came into camp in great shape, really athletic,” Venable said Thursday. “He’s a high-performing athlete, it’s always nice to see those guys lean into that in their offseason work. He did that. It showed up on the field [Wednesday] with some of those plays, coming in. He looks great.”</p><p>While chatter at SoxFest Live suggested 40 homers in his sophomore season based on what he did in three months as a rookie, well-regarded statistical projection systems like ZiPS and Steamer have Montgomery under 25 homers and 130 games played, so stay tuned.</p><p>Montgomery will keep his own projections to himself. In any case, it was good to put the first home run in camp on the board.</p><p>“It just shows that if I’m committed to my plan, and committed in not trying to cheat to fastballs or try to do too much, that if I just can touch the ball, I can do damage,” he said.</p><p></p><p></p><div class=\"PageListL\" data-module data-hide-authors=\"true\" data-hide-categories=\"true\" data-hide-dates=\"true\" data-show-loadmore=\"true\" ><a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"list-4a0005\" name=\"list-4a0005\"></a><div class=\"PageList-header\" > <div class=\"PageList-header-title-wrap\" > <div class=\"PageList-header-title\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox\" target=\"{borderColor=#dfdfdf, pageNumber=1, inverseColors=false, footerBgColor=#000000, bodyFont=font-3, showListNumbers=false, imagePositionHorizontal=null, rteBodyFont=font-3, headerBottomBorderColor=#111010, subTitle=null, stickyHeader=true, pagination=[{body=[Next Page], href=?p=2, _template=/link/Link.hbs, 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  "title": "White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery aims to lead by example",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-27T02:20:21.897Z"
}