GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jairo Iriarte completed his warmup tosses before squaring off against Colson Montgomery during a live batting practice session Saturday afternoon at Camelback Ranch.
The at-bat didn’t last long.
Montgomery jumped on the first pitch, drilling a long, high flyball the opposite way to left field.
While the Chicago White Sox won’t hold their first full-squad workout until Monday, many of the position players are already in camp. That created a scenario like the Iriarte-Montgomery matchup on Saturday.
“I haven’t been part of a camp where there’s so many guys and we’ve been able to do this so early,” Sox manager Will Venable said Saturday. “Good to get a head start on it and get going here.”
The next checkmark comes Monday. Ahead of that gathering, here are some of the position battles to watch this spring.
What will the double-play combination look like?
The stage is set for Montgomery to make an impact at shortstop with the Sox in 2025. The only question is when will that opportunity arrive.
The 2021 first-round selection is competing for a spot on the opening-day roster. He heated up during the final months of the 2024 season at Triple-A Charlotte and carried it over to a strong performance in a brief stint in the Arizona Fall League. He is rated as the No. 39 prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com.
Jake Amaya and Brooks Baldwin played shortstop down the stretch for the Sox last season. Amaya provided steady defense in his 23 games in 2024. He returns after the Baltimore Orioles claimed him off waivers Jan. 16 and then designated for assignment Jan. 27. The Sox claimed him off waivers Feb. 3.
Baldwin made nine starts at shortstop and 23 at second for the Sox last season.
Options at second base also include Lenyn Sosa, who made 44 starts at the position last year. Sosa finished 2024 on a positive note, hitting .374 with four home runs and 13 RBIs in 23 September games.
Free-agent addition Josh Rojas spent most of his 2024 at third base for the Seattle Mariners. But he has 122 career starts at second and 35 at shortstop during his six seasons in the majors.
Chase Meidroth, one of the players the White Sox acquired in the December trade that sent Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox, is a nonroster invitee to big-league camp. He made 49 starts at shortstop and 18 at second base for Triple-A Worcester last season.
In another offseason move, the Sox signed veteran Brandon Drury to a minor-league deal with an invite to major-league camp. Drury, who hit 26 home runs in 2023, made 50 starts at second base last season for the Los Angeles Angels.
