Prospect Colson Montgomery, added to the Chicago White Sox 40-man roster, made the most of his return to the AFL

Colson Montgomery initially wasnt crazy about returning to the Arizona Fall League for a second straight year.

But the Chicago White Sox prospect knew it was what he needed.

I kind of took that as a challenge, and I was like, All right, Im going to go prove and show the guy that I am and everybody knows that I am and that I can be, Montgomery said during a videoconference call Wednesday.

I had to put my ego and pride away for a little bit and just know this was the best thing for me.

For the long-term career, too, and figuring everything out.

The shortstop went on a tear during the stint in the Arizona Fall League with a 1.167 OPS.

The Sox hope its a sign of things to come for the 2021 first-round draft pick who was added to the clubs 40-man roster Tuesday along with right-handed pitcher Juan Carela.

Im happy and excited that I ended on a good note and back to what I need to be and better, Montgomery said.

But also, I have a whole bunch of hunger and frustration and not disappointment and embarrassment in myself but that fire in me that I always want to do good and the fact that I didnt perform the way I wanted to for most of the year, it kind of drives me crazy.

Its fueling the fire in my offseason work of, hey, I not really have to prove myself again, but have to get back to where I was and get back to being the guy everybody knows that I am.

And that comes into the happy and exciting that I did get back to that at the end of the year and the Fall League.

Montgomery, 22, is ranked No.

37 on MLB.coms top-100 prospects list .

The site also rates the shortstop as the No.

3 prospect in the Sox organization behind pitchers Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith.

Montgomery had an up-and-down 2024 season with Triple-A Charlotte .

He reached career highs in games (130), hits (104), doubles (21), home runs (18), RBIs (63), runs (66) and walks (69), but his .214 batting average, .329 on-base percentage and .710 OPS were the lowest of his career.

He also had a career-high 164 strikeouts.

Montgomery saw some positives in September with the Knights, slashing .264/.357/.458 with four home runs and 13 RBIs in 19 games.

He then carried it over in the Arizona Fall League , slashing .313/.511/.656 with two doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs in 11 games for the Glendale Desert Dogs.

White Sox shortstop prospect Colson Montgomery, right, chats with pitcher Justin Anderson during a spring training game against the Mariners on Feb.

24, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz.

(Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) I feel like throughout the year I was kind of fighting it, just being like, Oh, no, Im not in a slump, Montgomery said.

But once I kind of accepted it, I was like All right, what do I do now? What do I gotta do to get better? What do I gotta do to be the best guy I can be for the team? And once that clicked with me, it was just smooth sailing after that.

Sox general manager Chris Getz said of the AFL performance: It looked like the Colson that we were accustomed to watching.

The Sox selected Montgomery with the No.

22 pick in 2021 out of Southridge High School in Indiana.

He has a .253/.376/.414 slash line with 59 doubles, 37 home runs and 154 RBIs in 316 career games during four minor-league seasons.

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Although Montgomery wasnt on the major-league roster this season, he 100 percent felt what the club was going through while it set a modern MLB record with 121 losses .

I feel like I feel what they felt because were a group, Montgomery said.

Were a collective group as an organization.

I felt like everybody felt the same thing.

Obviously the guys up there probably felt a little more upset and disappointed about it.

But we all felt disappointed and upset.

At the end of the day, it just shows that we care too.

We want to do good, we want this organization to succeed.

I wish I could have been up there to maybe help.

But theres a reason why I wasnt up there.

I just feel like when the times right, its gonna happen.

I always say, Its Gods timing.' Tuesday was the deadline for teams to add to their 40-man rosters and protect eligible players from the Rule 5 draft.

Carela, 22, went 7-7 with a 3.71 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 23 starts in 2024 with Class A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham.

He began the year with Winston-Salem, going 4-4 with a 3.77 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 16 starts before being promoted to Birmingham on Aug.

6, with whom he went 3-3 with a 3.58 ERA and 36 strikeouts in seven starts.

A native of Samana, Dominican Republic, Carela is 20-30 with a 4.39 ERA and 460 strikeouts in 93 games (85 starts) during five minor-league seasons pitching in the New York Yankees (2019-23) and Sox (2023-24) organizations.

The Sox acquired Carela in an Aug.

1, 2023, trade that sent reliever Keynan Middleton to the Yankees.

The Sox on Wednesday finalized a one-year, $1.75 million contract with the veteran outfielder.

Slater, 31, has a .252/.342/.385 slash line with 40 home runs, 171 RBIs and 48 stolen bases in 634 games during parts of eight major-league seasons with the San Francisco Giants (2017-24), Cincinnati Reds (2024) and Baltimore Orioles (2024).

Reports of the signing surfaced Monday .

With the move, the Sox 40-man roster stands at 39..

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