Braden Montgomery: Up-And-Coming Dynasty Player

Hello everyone, I hope the day is going well for you.

Last week, I teased writing about Braden Montgomery when I was writing about Sam Antonacci. I know he is not the most exciting player to read about, but every winning dynasty team needs players like Antonacci. But I get it – he’s not a household name and doesn’t make any get upset that you snagged him.

Montgomery, on the other hand, is an exciting player that everyone is talking about. He has power, he can hit, and he can run. There is a lot to like about the newest White Sox rookie.

So let’s dive in and take a look at Braden Montgomery, an up-and-coming dynasty player.

The Stats

Braden Montgomery went undrafted out of high school, but that was not due to the fact that he wasn’t a top prep player. In fact, he was an outstanding prospect. But he was firm with major league teams that he was going to attend college at Stanford. At Stanford, he was outstanding, slashing .294/.361/.596 with 18 home runs and 57 RBI in 62 games as a freshman. The next season, he slashed .336/.461/.611 with 17 homers and 61 RBI in 64 games.

Ahead of his junior season, he transferred to Texas A&M and had his best season yet. In 61 games, he slashed .322/.454/.733 with 27 homers and 85 RBI. His numbers would have been even better if not for a broken ankle he suffered in the Super Regionals. The Red Sox took him with the 12th overall pick in the draft and then traded him to the White Sox as the centerpiece of the Garret Crochet deal.

After one full season in the minors and another 56 games at Double-A and Triple-A this year, the White Sox recalled Montgomery to join a young cast of players who are currently in first place in the American League Central.

The Tools

• Power

Coming out of high school in Mississippi, many scouts saw Braden Montgomery as more of a line drive hitter and not a power bat. But after his college career, that perception changed, and Montgomery was given a power grade of 60 when he was drafted by the Red Sox. Montgomery has great bat speed, and that was on display at Triple-A this year as his average EV was 93.2 mph with a max EV of 113.9 mph. His barrel% was 10.0%, and his hard hit% was 53.8%. Those are some pretty solid numbers.

Through his first seven games with the White Sox, his average EV is 91.9 mph, and his max EV is 107.8 mph with a 10.5% barrel percentage and a hard hit% of 47.4%. And as you can see here in his game-winning, first career homer, he can hit dingers to the opposite field.

• Hit

A switch-hitter, Montgomery has shown the ability to be a threat from both sides of the plate. In 115 at-bats as a righty in the minors last season, he slashed .261/.336/.539 with seven homers and 25 RBI. In 333 at-bats as a left-handed hitter, he slashed .273/.368/.441 with five dingers and 43 RBI.

Before being promoted by the White Sox, Braden Montgomery had a much better season from the left side of the plate, slashing .326/.427/.583 with 10 homers and 41 RBI in 187 at-bats. As a righty, he slashed only .220/.322/.340 with one homer and four RBI. Through Wednesday, Montgomery has been pretty consistent from both sides of the plate with Chicago. He is slashing .222/.222/.333 in nine at-bats vs. lefties and .222/.263/.444 vs. righties in 18 at-bats with his one homer.

The fact that Montgomery has been a good hitter historically from the left side of the plate is good news, considering he is going to get many more at-bats against right-handed pitchers than lefties. But since he is no slouch against lefties, he will remain in the lineup against both lefties and righties and provide solid production.

Montgomery does have some swing and miss in his game as he compiled a 25.1% strikeout rate in 2025 and a 24.8% strikeout rate in the minors this season. However, he also has a solid understanding of the strike zone overall, compiling a walk rate of 11 percent last year and 15.1% this year before being recalled. So far in his short time with the Sox, his strikeout rate is 28.6% and walk rate is 3.6%. I wouldn’t read much into that.

• Speed

Braden Montgomery has really good speed, currently ranking in the 90th percentile with a sprint speed of 28.9 mph. And he has the ability to take advantage of that speed as he stole 14 bases last year. However, that was in 21 attempts. This season in the minors, he was successful in stealing five bags in 11 attempts. His success rate in college was not very good either, as he was 19 of 32 (59%) on stolen base attempts. If Montgomery can learn to get better jumps, he can easily steal 20 bags a season. But that is a big if, though it would be great if that improvement came, as his value would skyrocket.

The Verdict

There is no reason not to want Braden Montgomery on your team. For the past two years, he has been a top 100 prospect by Baseball America, MLB, and Baseball Prospectus. He started this season as the 36th-ranked prospect by MLB and moved up to 21st before joining the White Sox.

Now with Chicago, he wasn’t brought up to sit on the bench. He was added to the roster to play and produce power at the plate, and I firmly believe he will do just that. He will have some bumps in the road, so you will have to live with that this season. But looking ahead, he is a player who should produce plenty of home runs and RBI and, maybe, stolen bases.

Thanks!

Thanks for reading, and come back again next week.