In a Chicago White Sox season defined by the unexpected, Braden Montgomery added another chapter Tuesday night, turning a seemingly routine June game into an instant classic, while carving out his own footnote in MLB history in the process.
The 23-year-old rookie helped the White Sox claw back from a 4-0 deficit against the Atlanta Braves in a game that the White Sox had no business winning. What stood out most, however, was the way Montgomery adjusted throughout each at-bat.
Montgomery received a standing ovation before his first major league plate appearance and paused briefly to soak in the moment before stepping into the batter’s box. After working the count to 1-2, he fell victim to a nasty back-foot slider from Braves starter Grant Holmes. Despite swinging through strike three, it was a pitch that Montgomery filed away for his next at-bat.
With the White Sox trailing 4-2 in the fourth inning, Montgomery got another crack at Holmes. The Braves right-hander opened the at-bat with the same slider that had fooled him earlier, but this time Montgomery was ready, laying off back-to-back offerings to jump ahead 2-0. He then jumped on a fastball and scorched it through the left side of the infield at 106 mph, driving in a run and collecting the first hit and first RBI of his major league career to cut the lead to 4-3.
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But Montgomery wasn’t finished making his mark on the game. After going hitless in his next two plate appearances, the rookie faced his biggest test in the 10th inning. With the White Sox trailing 5-4 and down to their final out, he stepped into the box against Raisel Iglesias, one of baseball’s most dependable closers. Entering the at-bat, Iglesias had allowed just two earned runs all season and had yet to surrender a home run.
Iglesias opened with a 90-mph changeup that caught Montgomery looking for strike one. But when the Braves closer went back to the same pitch on the next offering, Montgomery pounced, lining it 343 feet into the left-field bullpen for a dramatic walk-off home run, capping the White Sox 17th comeback victory of the season.
In the process, he became just the fifth player in Major League history to hit a walk-off home run in his MLB debut, and the first since Carlos Perez in 2015.
It was the kind of moment that felt ripped from a Hollywood script, leaving even Montgomery searching for words afterward. The White Sox No. 2 ranked prospect could only laugh when asked about it, jokingly telling reporters, “I guess from here on out, it’s all downhill.”
The White Sox have witnessed 12 major league debuts this season, and several have produced memorable moments. None, however, has come close to matching the storybook ending Montgomery delivered Tuesday night.
But while the moment itself may have been unexpected, Montgomery’s production was anything but. While injuries created an opening on the major league roster, Montgomery had already been forcing the issue for a promotion with his performance in the minors.
Across 56 games between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte, he hit for a .314 average, produced hard contact, took his walks, and launched 10 homers. The one lingering question centered on his swing-and-miss tendencies on pitches in the strike zone.
Montgomery entered his debut with a 23% strikeout rate and below-average in-zone contact metrics, concerns that surfaced during a two-strikeout performance Tuesday night. Yet what stood out most was his ability to adjust. Time and again, Montgomery learned from previous at-bats, whether it was laying off the slider that got him in his first plate appearance or punishing the second consecutive changeup Iglesias tried to sneak past him in the 10th.
As a switch-hitter with plus defensive tools and a cannon for an arm in the outfield, Montgomery possesses all the ingredients to become a cornerstone piece for the White Sox.
