GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chicago White Sox prospect Colson Montgomery formed an early bond with manager Will Venable over basketball.

Montgomery was a high school star in the sport in Indiana. Venable earned All-Ivy honors in basketball and baseball at Princeton.

“Someone brought it to my attention really quickly, so I had to look him up and check it out and he was legit,” Venable said Tuesday at Camelback Ranch. “That was an easy one to connect on.”

Venable is enjoying watching Montgomery put in the work at his chosen sport of baseball at Sox camp, where the shortstop is competing for a spot on the 26-man roster.

“I’m expecting a lot of opportunity and a lot of competition,” Montgomery said Monday. “That’s kind of what (general manager) Chris Getz has been saying and skip (Venable) has also been saying the same thing. We’re very fortunate for this opportunity.”

Montgomery, 22, is rated the No. 39 prospect in baseball by MLB.com. The 2021 first-round draft pick is hoping to build on a strong finish to an up-and-down 2024 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.

“It got to me a little bit,” Montgomery said of the struggles. “I would just say at the end of the day, I’m human. So sometimes it’s not going to go your way and there were times where I kind of just didn’t move on from the fact that I was struggling, and I’d kind of tell myself that I wasn’t struggling.

“But once I started saying, ‘Yeah, I’m going through a little something, what can I do to get out of it?’ I started doing that from the end of the year until the (Arizona) Fall League and things started to turn around.”

Montgomery saw some positives in September with Charlotte, 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.

“Last year I was really searching for stuff,” Montgomery said. “If I don’t search for stuff, it usually goes the way I want it to. I’ve just got to get back to my game of trying to make it as hard as I can on the pitcher and swing at my pitches, and don’t swing at the pitches the pitcher wants me to swing at.

“When I do those things and I just focus on competing in the box, things sometimes go your way.”

Montgomery has a .253/.376/.414 slash line with 37 home runs and 154 RBIs in 316 career minor-league games during four seasons in the Sox system.

He was one of the early arrivals to camp this spring and has gotten in plenty of swings during live batting practice against the likes of Dan Altavilla and Jairo Iriarte.

“Colson looks good,” Venable said. “He seems like he’s in an environment that’s comfortable for him, which is really important. I discussed that with him and want to make sure that he feels comfortable that he’s getting what he needs.

“He’s somebody that we’re going to lean on at some point here and we know that him feeling good about where he’s at is important. He’s been great, and excited about him.”

The Sox do have experience returning at shortstop in Jake Amaya and Brooks Baldwin. Amaya provided steady defense in his 23 games in 2024 with the Sox while hitting .179 with three RBIs. Baldwin, who made nine starts at shortstop and also saw time at second base last season, hit .211 with two home runs and eight RBIs in 33 games.

Free-agent addition Josh Rojas and prospect Chase Meidroth — acquired from Boston as part of the Garrett Crochet trade — could also be among the options.

“I feel like everybody’s a little anxious, because if you want to be the best you have to envision yourself at the big-league level,” Montgomery said. “So, of course I want to see myself at the big-league level, but also there’s a lot of really good players competing for jobs. I’m going to respect what decision they have, but I’m going to do whatever I can to help the team win.”

Drew Thorpe takes a step in coming back from injury

Sox starter Drew Thorpe threw an estimated 20 pitches Tuesday during his first side session of the spring as he makes his way back from what the club called “residual inflammation.”

“Felt good, pretty light, smooth,” Thorpe said. “No issues, really.”

The right-hander has another side session scheduled for Friday.

“(I) was happy for him and happy to see that he got through it feeling good,” Venable said. “I watched it and thought he did a good job of maintaining his effort.”