Brayden Montgomery is heading to Triple-A Charlotte after a dominant start to 2026, putting him one step away from his White Sox debut.
The Chicago White Sox had their five-game winning streak snapped on Sunday afternoon, losing the series finale against the San Diego Padres by a score of 4-3 on a go-ahead infield single.
Fortunately, it wasn’t all bad news for White Sox fans. While the big league club didn’t come away with a road sweep, there was still plenty to celebrate down on the farm.
The Birmingham Barons, Chicago’s Double-A affiliate, pulled off a 10-9 victory over the Chattanooga Lookouts. And for outfielder Braden Montgomery, the No. 1 prospect in the White Sox organization, it will go down as the last game he plays at the Double-A level.
Montgomery is being promoted to Triple-A Charlotte, now just one step away from his highly anticipated MLB arrival.
In 27 games and 99 at-bats this season, Braden Montgomery has hit .313 with five doubles, three triples, six home runs, and a 1.035 OPS.
Including his numbers from 2025, when he reached Double-A at the end of the season, Montgomery played a total of 61 games in Birmingham. He posted an OPS just shy of .900 and now looks to take the final step of his minor league career in Charlotte, where the ball famously flies.
Just this weekend, the Knights put up 21 runs in a single game.
There are definitely still some things for Montgomery to work on before he gets called up by the White Sox. The strikeout rate has been particularly concerning this season, with 32 punchouts in 27 games. But all in all, the Sox could still use his help as quickly as possible.
With Everson Pereira on the injured list, the outfield remains an area of weakness for the White Sox lineup. Players like Andrew Benintendi and Luisangel Acuña continue to get regular at-bats. It’s overdue for the White Sox to fill the outfield with talented young players who can be part of the organization’s future, not just veterans or reclamation projects who have been career minor leaguers.
It’s not hard to see the upside with Montgomery. You can nitpick parts of his game, sure, but he was the 12th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, and through his first 547 minor league at-bats, he’s been a do-it-all outfielder with a .846 OPS while hitting from both sides of the plate.
If he arrives in Charlotte and performs, we could see Montgomery make his MLB debut in Chicago and join the White Sox before the All-Star break.
Left-handed pitcher Shane Murphy is also joining Montgomery with a promotion to Triple-A. Murphy made a brief appearance for the Knights last season before being sent back to Double-A to start 2026. He hasn’t been quite as dominant as he was last year, but he continues to be a productive arm who understands the art of pitching and deserves an opportunity at an advanced level, and eventually the big leagues. Especially with pitching prospect Tanner McDougal going down last week, someone like Murphy deserves a shot to prove he belongs.
The Knights will be in Jacksonville starting Tuesday night, taking on left-handed pitcher Braxton Garrett, who has 326.1 career MLB innings under his belt with the Miami Marlins from 2020 to 2024. It will be a good test for Braden Montgomery and a good look at him against an MLB-caliber arm.