Braden Montgomery made sure his new White Sox teammates couldn’t give him the silent treatment after his first major-league home run.
Montgomery became the fifth player in major-league history to hit a walk-off homer in his debut, capping the team’s rally from an early four-run deficit for a 6-5, 10-inning victory over the Braves at Rate Field.
After the Braves took the lead in the top of the 10th, Montgomery hit an 0-1 changeup from Braves closer Raisel Iglesias 343 feet over the left-field wall with free runner Andrew Benintendi on third base.
“I hit it, and I thought it would at least get over his head,” Montgomery, the Sox’ No. 2 prospect, according to MLB.com, said of Mike Yastrzemski. “So I was excited that at least we didn’t lose.
“It was just surreal [rounding third]. I couldn’t even hear anything.”
But he saw his teammates ready to swarm him at the plate, the opposite of what would’ve happened had he hit a run-of-the-mill homer, per baseball tradition.
“It’s special,” manager Will Venable said. “We all view Braden as a special player, and special players do special things, to come through in that situation, is huge for him, huge for this group and obviously you love to see it.”
“It’s something out of dreams,” Montgomery said. “It’s something that I couldn’t have drawn up better myself. It’s a group effort. All the White Sox isn’t just us players; it’s a staff, it’s fans, it’s a city. It’s cool to all celebrate together.”
It was a day of celebration for Montgomery, whom the Sox notified of his call-up from Triple-A Charlotte on Monday and made official Tuesday. He started in right field and batted sixth, collecting his first major-league hit with a line-drive RBI single in the fourth.
“He’s here to play,” Venable said before the game. “We’re not going to call him up here and sit him on the bench. He’s a guy that we’re excited to have in the lineup on a daily basis and see him in the outfield. He projects as an above-average right fielder.”
Montgomery, 23, became the 12th Sox player to make his major-league debut this season. His call-up was among several moves. The Sox also recalled left-hander Joe Rock from Charlotte, optioned outfielder Rikuu Nishida and right-hander David Sandlin to Charlotte and moved outfielder Austin Hays to the 60-day injured list.
Montgomery spoke with a smile throughout his first meeting with reporters as a major-leaguer. Though he exuded calm and confidence — and why not? The Sox promoted him to Triple-A on May 3 after he had a 1.035 OPS in 27 games at Double-A Birmingham. In 29 games with Charlotte, his OPS was .912. Venable said he doesn’t plan to platoon the switch hitter.
“I think it’s fair to say that he’s been more productive over his career from the left side of the plate,” he said. “But he’s more than adequate on the right side, as well. So we view him as an every-day guy.”
General manager Chris Getz said the time was right to promote Montgomery, despite the gauntlet of a schedule facing the Sox, including a homestand with the Braves and Dodgers, both National League division leaders.
“The biggest focus all along was really getting Braden to a place where we felt most comfortable about bringing him to the big leagues,” Getz said. “It happens to be at this part of the schedule. We’re trying to balance what’s best for a player developmentally along with being as competitive as we can be at the major-league level. He was playing really well the last two weeks.”
Montgomery is the fourth (and final) player the Sox acquired in the Garrett Crochet trade with the Red Sox to make the majors. Mongtomery, whom the Red Sox drafted 12th overall in 2024 out of Texas A&M, came to the White Sox with second baseman Chase Meidroth, catcher Kyle Teel (injured list) and right-handed reliever Wikelman González (Triple-A injured list).