Future Star In The Making

Coming out of high school and being drafted in the first round is not an easy task by any means. To be selected in the first round in the top 10 is even harder, but for Benny Montgomery that’s exactly what he did in the 2021 draft. He was selected in the first round by the Colorado Rockies with the 8th pick in the draft. He earned the Pennsylvania high school Gatorade player of the year in 2021, while playing 27 games, with 78 at bats, 9 walks and 8 strike outs. Giving him a .359 average, .418 OBP and a OPS .905 all while still stealing 14 bases and driving in 23 runs that season. Benny not only brings raw talent to the field, he also has been described as having a great personality on and off the field. I remember seeing baseball cards he signed for Topps where he drew a plane on the picture. It’s something we have seen more of recently with prospect trying to enjoy the game more and bring a little more personality to the sport. This earned Benny a nickname with some fans as Benny and the Jet, just like Benny and the Jet Rodriguez from Sandlot. Montgomery does have the wheels to go with the nickname, in 2020 during his Perfect Game evaluation Benny ran a 6.32 60 yard dash landing him in top five percent for speed while have a 1.61 10 yard split. After being drafted by the Rockies in 2021, Benny was sent down Arizona Complex League where he only played in 14 games. In those 14 games though he went 16-47 while drawing five walks and striking out nine times. Montgomery showed off his wheels a little bit as well stealing five bases and hustling out a triple. In the 2022 season, Benny spent 6 more games down at ROK before moving up to single A ball where he played for the Fresno Grizzlies. Unfortunately for him his stint didn’t last to long with team, he missed about a month and a half of the season dealing with an Injury. He was able to play 56 games where he had .896 OPS, hit six dingers, came across to score 48 times and drove in 42 RBI’s. Benny showed off the wheels some more collecting 20 doubles, three more triples and stealing another nine bases. With of a total of 233 AB’s in those 56 games Benny struck out 71 times, so roughly 31% of the time he struck out. In a recent interview with a Sports Statistics class Benny spoke about how he is going to be changing his workout routine. When stepping into the batting practice he is going to start trying to identify certain pitches and only swing at those pitches to help with his pitch recognization. As Benny described it “I want to use what baseball is telling me I need to get better at.” Fielding wise in the 2022 season he made one bad jump on a ball causing him to end the season with one error and a .989 fielding percentage on 94 balls played to him. Three of those balls to him he did not record the put out, but was credited with 3 assist on the plays. With his great speed and the work that will be done to help him have better reads on the ball Benny Montgomery in center field, The Colorado Rockies believe they have a diamond in the making.