Colson Montgomery is making a statement as the future face of the White Sox

While a high school athlete in Indiana, Colson Montgomery quickly made a name for himself as a three-sport athlete. And while we know him as the baseball star he is, there was a time when basketball was thought to be his future. 

He was recruited by Purdue University and the University of Louisville as a basketball player, and was going to go to the University of Indiana to play baseball and be a walk-on on the basketball team. 

However, he would participate in the first-ever MLB Combine, where he turned the heads of some professional scouts. 

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Colson Montgomery is making a statement as the future face of the White Sox

It was here that the Chicago White Sox noticed Montgomery. They would go on to take him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft and would spend a few years in the minors. 

He would make his MLB debut in July last year and wasted no time launching home run after home run. Montgomery hit 21 home runs across 71 games and has picked up right where he left off. 

He's the one player on the White Sox who is "untouchable," per Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter. 

"With breakout slugger Munetaka Murakami signed for just two years before he can again test the open market and aim for greener pastures, Montgomery is the clear choice for the White Sox. After slugging 21 homers as a rookie, he has a 139 OPS+ with 13 home runs and 1.7 WAR through his first 45 games."

While White Sox fans would have loved for this to be Murakami, Montgomery plays a premier position, which is shortstop, and is under team control through 2031. 

Montgomery aligns better with the team's rebuild, but that doesn't mean the White Sox can't keep Murakami. The front office will, however, have to bring out the Brinks trucks to make this happen, something the club has been hesitant to do throughout history. 

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