Will Venable Says White Sox Prospects 'Not Far Off' From MLB Debut

CHICAGO – As Will Venable embarks on his first season as White Sox manager, he's keeping an eye on various levels of the organization.

After picking up his first managerial win over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, Venable saw several White Sox prospects have productive Opening Day outings with the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.

Shortstop Colson Montgomery – the White No. 4 prospect and No. 39 overall, per MLB.com – hit a home run, drove in two runs and scored twice. Determining when to call up Montgomery is a multi-layered decision.

"I think that it’s beyond just performance, you know, and putting up numbers," Venable said. "There’s things defensively he’s working on. There’s things on the bases he’s working on. He’s really continuing to develop, and when we’ll give him time to do that. We also recognize that getting hits and performing at the plate is important too. So we’re really just going to take this day by day, let him do his thing, and when he’s ready and we feel he’s ready, we’ll call him up.”

Second baseman Chase Meidroth is the White Sox No. 8 prospect, and he got on base three times and scored twice.

Designated hitter Kyle Teel – ranked No. 2 among White Sox prospects and No. 32 overall – hit a home and singled in the 9-1 win. Catcher Edgar Quero singled twice and walked, and he's the organization's No. 6 prospect and No. 65 in MLB.

Venable took notice.

"These guys are a part of this whole thing," Venable said before Saturday's game. "I know that as we get into the grind it’s going to be more and more challenging, but that’s something that’s important to me. Not just watching, but making sure that they know that we’re paying attention. We talked about how we want to make sure these guys know how close they are. I think that’s one way to make them feel that is to keep in touch and let them know we’re watching.

"I also don’t want to be down their throats, you know, let them do their thing. But it’s important to let them know we’re watching.”

Some of these prospects could be nearing their MLB debuts. Montgomery made 572 plate appearance at Triple-A last season, and Meidroth made 558 with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox before joining the White Sox organization as part of the Garrett Crochet trade.

The White Sox acquired Teel in the Crochet trade too, though he played 84 games with the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs in 2024 and 28 games in Triple-A. Quero played 72 games with the Double-A Birmingham Barons last season, but he also saw action in 26 Charlotte Knights games.

“Yeah, they’re not far off," Venable said. "They’re not far off and they have the things they need to continue to work on, but we know that they’re gonna be contributing here at some point and some of them this summer.”

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