Sox to call up top prospect Colson Montgomery on Friday

LOS ANGELES — The White Sox plan to call up top prospect Colson Montomery from Triple-A Charlotte and are expected to have the 23-year-old shortstop make his major-league debut Friday night against the Rockies at Coors Field.

Manager Will Venable would not comment on reports out of Indiana that Montgomery, the 22nd overall pick in 2021 out of Southridge (Indiana) High School, would be joining the big-league club. But a person familiar with the move but not authorized to speak publicly about it confirmed that Montgomery will be promoted to play shortstop and that Chase Meidroth will be moved from shortstop to second base.

The 6-3, 230-pound Montgomery, rated the fifth-best prospect in the Sox organization by MLB.com, is batting .218 with a .733 OPS, 11 home runs, 10 doubles and 30 RBI in 55 games for Charlotte this season.

The left-handed-hitting slugger got off to a slow start, with a .149 average and three homers in April. But he began to heat up in May and was batting .284 with a 1.003 OPS, six homers and 17 RBI since June 5. He was named International League player of the week on June 30 after going 11-for-22 with seven extra-base hits.

Montgomery has drawn comparisons to five-time All-Star shortstop Corey Seager of the Rangers because of his size, raw power and strong arm, but there’s also plenty of swing-and-miss in his game, with 82 strikeouts and 19 walks in 242 Triple-A plate appearances this season.

Muncy on IL after crash at third

The scene around the third-base bag at Dodger Stadium in the sixth inning Wednesday night looked like the ending of a bizarre heavyweight fight in which both boxers knocked each other out. Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy and Sox center fielder Michael A. Taylor were both on their backs being evaluated by trainers after Taylor slid head-first on a stolen-base attempt, his helmet colliding with Muncy’s left knee.

Taylor wasn’t in Thursday night’s lineup — “I’m a little stiff and sore today,” he said — but he cleared concussion protocol and won’t be placed on the injured list. Muncy, who hit .333 with a 1.113 OPS, seven homers and 24 RBI in June, went on the IL with a bruised knee and will miss six to eight weeks.

“When you look at the play and the injury that could have happened, we possibly got a best-case scenario,” Muncy said. “There’s no structural damage, which is huge. That was definitely a relief. It’s a tough blow because I’m looking at six to eight weeks, but I still get to play baseball this year instead of coming back next April.”

With Muncy and Taylor arriving in the same spot at the same time after the throw the throw from catcher Will Smith, there was little Taylor could do to avoid impact.

“I honestly didn’t see him,” Taylor said. “When I went into my slide, he wasn’t at the bag yet. Then I dive in with my head down. . . . Watching the replay, I saw his leg was right in front of the base. I’m not sure there was anything more I could do at that point because I was already committed to my dive.”

The incredible bulk

Lost in the buzz over Clayton Kershaw’s 3,000th career strikeout and Freddie Freeman’s walk-off RBI single Wednesday night was a superb bulk-inning effort by Sox right-hander Sean Burke, who gave up a homer to Andy Pages on his first pitch, then held the Dodgers to five hits over six innings.

“I feel like everything was working,” said Burke, who struck out five and walked one after taking over for opener Brandon Eisert to start the second inning of an eventual 5-4 loss. “Obviously, this is a tough lineup to face. I feel like you can’t really try to beat them over and over with the same stuff. We tried to mix some things up, give them different looks. We get them out one way one time and the next at-bat take a different route to get there.”