GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jairo Iriarte completed his warmup tosses before squaring off against Colson Montgomery during a live batting practice session Saturday afternoon at Camelback Ranch.
The at-bat didn’t last long.
Montgomery jumped on the first pitch, drilling a long, high flyball the opposite way to left field.
While the Chicago White Sox won’t hold their first full-squad workout until Monday, many of the position players are already in camp. That created a scenario like the Iriarte-Montgomery matchup on Saturday.
“I haven’t been part of a camp where there’s so many guys and we’ve been able to do this so early,” Sox manager Will Venable said Saturday. “Good to get a head start on it and get going here.”
The next checkmark comes Monday. Ahead of that gathering, here are some of the position battles to watch this spring.
What will the double-play combination look like?
The stage is set for Montgomery to make an impact at shortstop with the Sox in 2025. The only question is when will that opportunity arrive.
The 2021 first-round selection is competing for a spot on the opening-day roster. He heated up during the final months of the 2024 season at Triple-A Charlotte and carried it over to a strong performance in a brief stint in the Arizona Fall League. He is rated as the No. 39 prospect in baseball, according to MLB.com.
Jake Amaya and Brooks Baldwin played shortstop down the stretch for the Sox last season. Amaya provided steady defense in his 23 games in 2024. He returns after the Baltimore Orioles claimed him off waivers Jan. 16 and then designated for assignment Jan. 27. The Sox claimed him off waivers Feb. 3.
Baldwin made nine starts at shortstop and 23 at second for the Sox last season.
Options at second base also include Lenyn Sosa, who made 44 starts at the position last year. Sosa finished 2024 on a positive note, hitting .374 with four home runs and 13 RBIs in 23 September games.
Free-agent addition Josh Rojas spent most of his 2024 at third base for the Seattle Mariners. But he has 122 career starts at second and 35 at shortstop during his six seasons in the majors.
Chase Meidroth, one of the players the White Sox acquired in the December trade that sent Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox, is a nonroster invitee to big-league camp. He made 49 starts at shortstop and 18 at second base for Triple-A Worcester last season.
In another offseason move, the Sox signed veteran Brandon Drury to a minor-league deal with an invite to major-league camp. Drury, who hit 26 home runs in 2023, made 50 starts at second base last season for the Los Angeles Angels.
Who will be at the hot corner?
Miguel Vargas worked on adding strength this offseason as he looks to rebound from a tough 2024, when he hit .104 in 42 games after being traded to the Sox from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Vargas and Bryan Ramos spent a majority of the time at third base in the final month of 2024. Ramos has been dealing with elbow soreness but is cleared to hit.
Sosa made a team-leading 47 starts at third last year. Rojas joined the Sox after starting 106 games at third base for the Mariners in 2024.
Drury has 191 starts at third base in his 10-year major-league career. Bobby Dalbec — another veteran who signed a minor-league deal with a big-league camp invite — has spent a majority of his five major-league seasons at first base. But he has appeared in 55 games at third.
In addition to his time at second base and shortstop, Meidroth made 33 starts at third last season for Worcester.
Venable is intrigued to see how it all plays out at second, third and shortstop.
“It’s going to be awesome and we’re going to be challenged to get everybody in different spots and everybody innings at different defensive spots,” Venable said. “But that’s going to be huge for us, to have guys who can move around and be able to do different stuff at the end of games. (It) is going to be good to have their versatility.”
How will the Sox utilize the options behind the plate?
The Sox optioned Korey Lee to Triple-A Charlotte on March 20, but he returned five days later when Max Stassi went on the injured list. Lee emerged as the starting catcher as the season progressed, finishing with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs in 125 games.
He has new company this season after the Sox acquired Matt Thaiss in a trade with the Chicago Cubs. Thaiss spent the previous six seasons with the Angels. His primary position the last three years was behind the plate.
The Sox also have a couple of highly touted catching prospects working their way to the big leagues in Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel.
Quero, rated the No. 66 prospect in baseball, spent 2024 at Double-A Birmingham and Charlotte. Teel, the No. 32 prospect in baseball, is another player the Sox received as part of the Crochet trade. He spent 2024 at Double A and Triple A in Boston’s system.
“They’re young and exciting and hungry,” Venable said Friday of the catchers. “These are all really good athletes. Guys who have the ability to do a lot of different things on the field. Really excited about the catching group.”
Competition at nearly every position is one of the themes this spring. It kicks into another gear Monday.
