Madison Central Submitted to 'clarionledger'
Slept on: Superstar from Madison, Mississippi: Braden Montgomery
From Madison Central High School to the Boston Red Sox in just four years, meet Braden Montgomery. Just four years ago, Braden Montgomery put on his cap and gown to graduate from Madison Central, all while being one of the most recruited baseball players in the nation. With diverse talent, recruiters ideas were split between whether he was going to have a brighter future hitting or pitching. As a pitcher, he is able to reach 96 miles per hour with his fast ball. As a field player and hitter, he was dominating.
Montgomery was the No.1 high school prospect out of Mississippi and No. 23 prospect in the United States. While attending Madison Central High School, Montgomery was able to take the high school team to a state championship and a No.1 ranking (according to Baseball America) in his senior year. In his senior year, he also won Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year and was Two-time All-State first team in 2019 and 2021.
Now, if I were to list out all of Braden Montgomery’s accomplishments throughout his collegiate baseball career, I would be writing forever.
Montgomery was initially scouted and recruited successfully by Stanford University. Stanford has 29 bullet points to highlight his freshman year accomplishments. This is too many to regurgitate, but some of the big ones are how Montgomery earned Pac-12 freshman of the year, put up 50 runs (18 of which were homers), and how aside from hitting, he pitched. His freshman year he had 28 strikeouts and pitched a 5.79 ERA. After his freshman season, Stanford again provides an exquisitely long list of 44 notable accomplishments made by Braden his sophomore year. Some of these include pitching statistics, as he was ranked No.3 in the PAC-12 and No. 26 overall with 51 walks. In terms of batting skills, he raked together 70 runs, 17 of which were homers. Stanford also highlights his accomplishments off the field as being an athlete on Academic Honor Roll, Academic All-district, and being on (what seems like) almost every watchlist.
After his sophomore year, he transferred to Texas A&M. Spending his junior year with the Aggies, he started 61 games. Despite a season ending injury sliding into a base, he was able to swing 27 homers, a statistic which put him third all-time in the school’s history for a single season. His pitches were also record-breaking, and drew 53 walks, which tied the school record for the fourth most in single season program history. He was named a unanimous All American player and was able to secure titles like 2024 SEC team, Baseball America Second Team All–American (and about 20 more).
In the 2024 draft, the Boston Red Sox selected Braden Montgomery in a first round pick, 12th overall. This makes him the highest drafted position player in Aggie’s history, surpassing Tyler Naquin, who went 15th overall in 2012. With skills in both pitching and hitting, the Boston Red Sox took him as a hitter and strong outfielder.
For those who are unfamiliar, the 2024 MLB draft occurs in mid-July. This year specifically it was July 14 to July 16. According to mlb.com, going straight from the draft to The Show rarely happens. The website also states that it is common for a baseball player to take two/three (or more) years developing in the minor leagues before reaching The Show. The MLB sites that this 2/3 year development applies to many of the biggest names and best players in baseball.
With Braden Montgomery, there is a high chance that we will see him make it to the top of the pyramid, make it to The Show. Until then, if you would like to keep up with him, you will have to follow him (probably) in his minor journey.
