The Colson Montgomery/Andrew Vaughn White Sox conundrum — which story is defining?

Poor player development has been at the root of the White Sox's issues since the end of the Ozzie Guillen era. Virtually every single player the Sox have brought up from their farm system in the last 10 years has left town a disappointment, a big reason why the Sox have the worst record in baseball since 2013 (846-1,115, .431).

And that includes some of the biggest success stories. Tim Anderson developed into a two-time All-Star and won the AL batting title in 2019 with a .335 average. But at the peak of his prime, he had one of the most sudden and mystifying (well, maybe not all that mystifying) collapses in recent memory. He was hitting .354 in late June in 2022 when he imploded — hitting .239 the rest of that season and .245 in 2023. He was never the same and is out of the big leagues at 32.

The same for Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada and Andrew Vaughn. Nick Madrigal hit .317 in his first two seasons with the Sox, but suffered a devastating season-ending injury in 2021 and was traded — and also was never the same, though with the Cubs not the Sox.

The rise and fall of Yermin Mercedes is a bizarre footnote in this litany of disaster. A late bloomer, Mercedes set a major-league record by going 8-for-8 to start the 2021 season (he had one big-league at-bat going in) and was hitting. .384 with a 1.019 OPS in his first 32 games. But on May 18, he was publicly criticized by manager Tony La Russa for swinging at a 3-0 pitch in a 15-4 blowout of the Twins and — coincidentally or not — soon went into a massive slump.

After getting two hits the following night, Mercedes hit .150 the rest of the season (16-for-107) and was demoted in early July and "retired" after three weeks in the minor leagues. (Mercedes resurfaced with the Giants in 2022, but hit .233 in 31 games and has spent the last three seasons playing in Mexico.)

Against that backdrop, the concurrent stories of Andrew Vaughn and Colston Montgomery add further intrigue to the Sox's player-development plight. Vaughn. at least on paper, might be the biggest indictment of White Sox player development.

The No. 3 overall pick of the 2019 draft, Vaughn struggled to live up to his draft status in four-plus seasons with the White Sox. After encouraging seasons in 2022 (.271, 17 homers, 76 RBIs) and 2023 (,258, 21 homers, 80 RBIs), he stagnated and then headed straight downhill in 2025 — hitting .189 with five home runs and 19 RBIs in 48 games before being demoted to Class AAA Charlotte in May and traded to the Brewers on June 13.

But since the Brewers called him up from Class AAA Nashville on July 6, Vaughn has looked like a different player. In 29 games, Vaughn is hitting .343 for the Brewers with nine home runs and 35 RBIs — a 1.051 OPS. Let's put it this way: Vaughn has been more productive in his first 29 games with the Brewers than any 29-game span in 4 1/2 seasons with the White Sox (.310, six homers, 16 RBIs, an .962 in 2021).

And while Vaughn's production is still a small sample size at this point, the Brewers' player development staff seems to have played a role in his turnaround. Vaughn has gone from a career-high 22.3% strikeout rate with the White Sox to a career-best 14.8% strikeout rate with the Brewers. He's gone from a career-low 3.6% walk rate with the White Sox to a career-best 9.6% walk rate with the Brewers. Somehow they taught him to stop swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone.

That's sure seems like more than just a "change of scenery." More like a startling example of the Brewers' prowess at player development — a painful reality for the Cubs as well at this point of the season.

But at the same time the Vaughn story is making the Sox and general manager Chris Getz look bad, the Colson Montgomery story is making them look good. Montgomery, the Sox's first-round draft pick (No. 22) in 2021, is more than a rookie off to a hot start. He's one of the best examples of player development in recent memory.

In his fifth season of struggling in the minor leagues, the Sox' abruptly sent Montgomery to their training facility in Glendale, Ariz. in late April to work with directory of hitting Ryan Fuller, work on his swing and basically get a reset. It seemed like a desperate, almost last-gasp move. Montgomery was hitting .149 with a .478 OPS (three home runs, six RBIs) in 23 games at Charlotte. It was his fourth full season in the minor leagues.

But against tough odds, the tack has been an unmitigated success. Montgomery was called up on July 4 — for a well-timed series against the pathetic Rockies at hitter-friendly Coors Field — and, like Andrew Vaughn with the Brewers, looks like a different hitter.

In 34 games, Montgomery is hitting .235, but with 10 home runs and 28 RBIs. He cooled off after a hot start — hitting .185 with no home runs in nine games in July. But he responded with a power surge — 10 home runs, 22 RBIs and a .952 OPS in his next 19 games. He's making Ryan Fuller — a noted hitting coach with the Orioles who appears to be missed in Baltimore — look like a genius. In 34 games — a small sample size, but not insignificant — Montgomery has been a better hitter in the big leagues than he was at AAA.

That's the kind of story that provides hope that the White Sox can dig themselves out of the muck the old-fashioned way — by developing players on their own. The Sox have shown modest improvement since going 41-121 last season, but they're doing it with many of their prospects as opposed to veteran fill-ins who won't be on the next Sox playoff team.

Then again, the Sox have been selling hope for a return to contention baed on player development for years, only to fall into the same cycle — trading the few players they develop for prospects who at best become trade bait themselves for more young prospects.

Montgomery's development — and Fuller's role in it — provides hope the White Sox can break that cycle. Vaughn's continued impact with the Brewers is a reminder of how poorly the Sox have been at developing talent with staying power. Which example is the defining one? Sox fans would love to believe it's the former. But even Montgomery has a long way to go to prove he can sustain his eye-opening progress. And if he does, there have to be many more where he came from to make the White Sox relevant again.

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