With playoffs on-deck, Colson Montgomery ready to 'turn the page' on tough end to '26

CHICAGO -- Colson Montgomery is about to experience the ultimate reset. Or so he hopes.

The White Sox shortstop, who had a strong case to be chosen as an American League All-Star, has struggled since the break in completing his first full big league season. He has a .166/.257/.309 slash line with eight home runs, 34 RBIs and 104 strikeouts over 61 games, including a .104/.225/.221 slash with two homers, 10 RBIs and 40 strikeouts in September.

Those strikeouts seem to be a prevailing theme, as Montgomery now holds the single-season Major League record at 225. But as of Monday, with the team’s AL Wild Card series beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. CT, somewhere in Texas, everything is back to zero.

“Everything that’s kind of happened the past couple of days, it’s definitely something that you don’t want your name to be a part of,” said Montgomery prior to Sunday’s regular-season finale. “But at the end of the day, you can’t be looking at so much of the negative stuff. I’ve looked at a lot of the stuff we’ve all done this year, and me personally, and felt like it’s been a lot of positives.

“Especially right now, I feel like for me to really go into the dumps about what just happened and for me to be so upset about it and not try to get better in the position we’re at as a team right now, I feel would be selfish. That’s kind of where my head is at. And that’s not the player or teammate I want to be, so just come here, be the same guy every day, working hard, having fun. And once the day is over, it’s back to zero.”

Montgomery didn’t start Saturday night’s 9-6 loss to the Rockies, which officially sent the White Sox into Wild Card action. With the White Sox trailing, 5-2, in the sixth, he pinch-hit and struck out as the tying run to end the frame. In the eighth, with runners on first and third, one out and the White Sox down, 5-3, Montgomery hit into an inning-ending double play.

This story certainly isn’t intended to pile on Montgomery, who has had a solid overall '26 campaign with 31 homers and 87 RBIs entering Sunday. The White Sox will need him to succeed in order to succeed as a team in the postseason.

Call this year an overall learning experience for Colson, through the good and bad times on the field.

“You can’t ride the highs and you can’t stay in the lows for very long,” said Montgomery of his biggest takeaway from this season. “If you do, it’s just the rollercoaster effect of it’s just going to be hard for you to try to stay consistent.

“I’ve done that good this year. I’ve also done it not so good, of riding those lows or highs or whatever it is.”

White Sox manager Will Venable has been a strong supporter of Montgomery and had numerous talks in guiding the 24-year-old talent.

“I'm sure he's had to work to get there mentally,” Venable said. “As I've spoken to him through this year and through the good and the bad, Colson has handled things really well. He understands the good things that he's done and all the things he's done to impact us and put us in this spot.

“At the same time, I understand the thoughts that he has. I'm sure he doesn't want to have broken the strikeout record. But he locked in on the positive things, so I feel like he's in a good spot. We look at him and see all the positive things too. All good and it's a clean slate starting Tuesday."

A level of disappointment exists in not winning the American League Central for a White Sox team that would have benefited greatly from no games for five days. But there’s no time to feel too sad.

Much like for Montgomery, baseball life resets for the White Sox on Monday.

“Once the day's over, who cares?” Montgomery said. “Because some guys in here, you could not be playing good, and you go off in the postseason, and then it's like nothing else happened.

“It's just kind of like turn the page. You know, it's over. It's done. We can't go back with any of that stuff. So we're excited, and we're happy and excited for what’s coming Tuesday.”