It's not going to make up for missing Texas A&M's College World Series run last summer with a broken ankle, but the White Sox keep extolling their excitement to have Braden Montgomery on the Birmingham Barons roster, getting to be a part of their effort to repeat as Southern League champions. His 30 games on the Barons have at least highlighted some characteristics of a winning operation to the 22-year-old.
"You talk about teams that are going to make a deep run in the playoffs and it can't be one-dimensional," Montgomery said. "You can't just have one way to win. Our offense is very...not one-dimensional. We can get it done in multiple different ways, whether it's from the big swing or the bunt and get the guy over, or getting offense from stealing bases. It's been really cool to see and obviously we have some great pieces on the mound."
Whether it's the capitalization of youth sports constantly thinning the talent pool, cheaply manufactured minor league baseballs or increasingly unstable wind patterns, no one can seem to hit for power in the Southern League. The league slugging percentage is .341. Somewhere in the process of noticing the Barons have found ways to manufacture runs in ways that work for them, Montgomery's similarly noticed that he's been limited to one home run in 30 game in Double-A.
But he's graded his time in Birmingham more warmly than the self-assessment he gave at the All-Star break, because his .304/.386/.464 line in Double-A reflects some adaptation to his new environment.
"Everyone notices how hard home runs can be to come by, and at that point you've got to pivot and just worry about hitting balls hard and hitting them in between people," Montgomery said. "You can still get plenty of doubles. They're on the field waiting on you."
Montgomery doesn't lack for physical development, but he's more than 55 games and 200 plate appearances over last year's season totals, and is still planning to play in the Arizona Fall League after the Southern League playoffs. It's nice to be young, where a massive extension in workload is just viewed as an opportunity to prepare for his future schedule demands.
"I'm just excited to play some more talent that's going to be difficult," Montgomery said. "I just want to prepare for the big leagues as much as possible. That's where I want to be at. I want to continue to get better on the road to that."
Jacksonville 3, Charlotte 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Jacob Gonzalez went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Sean Burke: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 2 HR, 1 WP, 59 of 82 pitches for strikes.
Charlotte 3, Jacksonville 2 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Jacob Gonzalez was 0-for-3 with a K.
- Mike Clevinger returned to Charlotte: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 2 HR
- Peyton Pallette: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 11 of 17 pitches for strikes.
Birmingham 8, Chattanooga 0
- Rikuu Nishida singled, walked thrice, got plunked and was caught stealing.
- William Bergolla was 1-for-3 with a walk, sac bunt and a stolen base.
- Sam Antonacci went 1-for-5 with a triple.
- Wilfred Veras, 1-for-4 with a walk.
- Braden Montgomery went 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ryan Galanie, 1-for-4 with a double and a walk.
- D.J. Gladney went 3-for-5 with a homer and a strikeout.
- Lucas Gordon returned to Double-A: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 44 of 80 pitches for strikes.
Greenville 5, Winston-Salem 0
- Samuel Zavala was 0-for-4.
- Jeral Perez, 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Kyle Lodise went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Caleb Bonemer doubled and struck out twice.
- Lyle Miller-Green had the other hit, going 1-for-3.
- Ryan Burrowes struck out all three times.
- Aldrin Batista: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 22 of 41 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 6, Augusta 2
- Ely Brown was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- George Wolkow was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Anthony DePino, 0-for-3 with a walk.
- Colby Shelton was 1-for-4.
- Kaleb Freeman went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Adrian Gíl struck out all three times.
- Rylan Galvan replaced him and walked.
