White Sox prospect Braden Montgomery joins rare company with walk-off HR in MLB debut

White Sox prospect Braden Montgomery was promoted from the minor leagues to make his MLB debut on Tuesday night against the Braves. He collected his first career hit and RBI on a single in the fourth inning, but saved the fireworks for a much more dramatic moment, slugging a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th. It came with two outs and an 0-1 count while the White Sox were trailing 5-4. 

That’s a 6-5 White Sox win in 10 innings. How cool was that? The genuine emotions from second base all the way to home plate, that’s all the good stuff. And it was a historic moment, too. According to CBS Sports Research, Montgomery became just the fifth player in the modern era (since 1900) to hit a walk-off homer in their MLB debut, joining Billy Parker (1971), Josh Bard (2002), Miguel Cabrera (2003) and Carlos Perez (2015). 

Montgomery’s arrival helped give the White Sox a needed boost as they face an especially tough stretch of the schedule. They lost two of three to the Phillies over the weekend and are now hosting the Braves for three games before a three-game home series with the Dodgers and a trip to the Bronx to face the Yankees for three games. 

On top of that, Munetaka Murakami is on the injured list due to a hamstring injury and fellow power hitter Colson Montgomery had to sit out Tuesday’s game due to back tightness. A huge part of the White Sox’s early success this season had been the power-hitting trio of Murakami, Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas. 

With two-thirds of the group not in the lineup against the mighty Braves, sporting the best record in all of baseball (now 45-22), the White Sox called up Braden Montgomery and the move paid off. Montgomery was a major part of the package — Chase Meidroth and Kyle Teel were also in there — the White Sox got back when trading lefty ace Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox. The Texas A&M product was a first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2024 draft. He was ranked as the No. 36 prospect in baseball by MLB.com heading into the spring. 

He started in Double-A Birmingham and in 27 games hit .313/.429/.606 with five doubles, three triples and six home runs. In his 29 games with Triple-A Charlotte, he hit .315/.417/.495 with eight doubles and four home runs. 

The White Sox, one might recall, set a modern MLB record with 121 losses in 2024. They lost 102 games last season. Here in 2026, though, it’s a new day. With this win, they moved to 35-31 and are holding the top AL Wild Card spot while sitting just a half-game back of the Guardians for the AL Central lead. 

It’s already been an exciting season on the South Side of Chicago and this debut from the newest Montgomery just adds to it.