RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Ever gone to the grocery store hungry? Surely everyone has.
‘‘If you don’t have a plan of what you want to get, you’re gonna [bleeping] go get everything,’’ White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery said, explaining his recent chasing of pitches out of the strike zone. ‘‘If you have a plan of what you want, you’re probably in and out. That’s what it needs to be for me.’’
Montgomery hit at an All-Star level for much of the time before the All-Star break but has been struggling offensively for a while now. He drew a walk Tuesday in a six-run first inning the Sox put on potential future Hall of Famer Jacob deGrom and had an RBI single in the fourth, but he entered the night hitting .191/.254/.367 since June 1, even while maintaining a 30-home-run pace.
Montgomery is coming off a decent road trip (7-for-21, two doubles) that manager Will Venable cited for why he’s close to getting back to being the guy who batted cleanup for the best offense in the American League for much of the season.
To hear Montgomery tell it, however, that just got him hungry again.
‘‘Because I saw success, saw results, so I got away from my process,’’ Montgomery told the Sun-Times. ‘‘That leads to chasing results, trying to do too much, trying to go get the game, trying to go get the baseball, rather than just let the game work.”
In rejecting that Montgomery requires a ‘‘mental break’’ out of the lineup, Venable echoed Sox hitting coaches in praising how the 24-year-old has dealt with his struggles. Teammate Kyle Teel has called him ‘‘one of the best at focusing on the process’’ — and not just because he’s the rare big-leaguer who can conjure relatable grocery-shopping metaphors.
‘‘Can’t really put words to it, but he’s got that ‘it’ factor,’’ said Rangers first baseman Jake Burger, who trains with Montgomery during the offseason. ‘‘These type of seasons are good for development, trying to figure out how to deal when you’re in a valley and trying to get out as fast as possible.’’
Regardless, Montgomery’s heady nature hasn’t prevented him from expanding out of the strike zone. His long-limbed swing is geared for power, not average, and elevated strikeout rates are part of the package. But his highs and lows always will be extreme until his rate of swinging at pitches out of the strike zone moves from the top-third of the league to, ideally, the bottom-third.
Sox hitting coaches have worked to get Montgomery’s long limbs loaded and ready to fire earlier in the opposing pitcher’s motion to give him more time to see and recognize spin. With his injury history, it’s easy to look at his splits since he missed two games in June with tightness in his lower back (.197/.253/.373 with a 37.5% strikeout rate) and wonder whether his daily maintenance of the injury only can accomplish so much. Montgomery, though, points elsewhere.
‘‘It’s mental,’’ he said. ‘‘If you go up there and you don’t have a plan or a process, [it] doesn’t [bleeping] matter how your body is.’’
If that’s deflection, it’s deflecting it right onto his own shoulders.
‘‘I’ve been having really bad decisions at the plate — expanding the zone, making it easy on the pitcher to get me out,’’ he said.
There are two ways to look at Montgomery’s last three seasons, which have seen long slumps and his prospect status waver but also have come with 48 big-league home runs in 196 career games. Perhaps his game is doomed to swing between extremes, or perhaps he’s a hitter who’s been in this spot before and worked his way out of it.
‘‘What can we do to make this better?’’ Montgomery said. ‘‘I need to get in the cage. I need to do more decision work. I’ve gotta stay committed to my process, where I’m looking, what is my plan. Having one thought, being as simple as I can. So that’s what I’m trying to do right now.’’
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