GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Colson Montgomery put the final word on his second turn in the Arizona Fall League, and that word was boom.

The White Sox No. 3 prospect homered on Friday in Glendale¡¯s 7-6 loss to Salt River at Camelback Ranch in what he confirmed would be his final game of the 2024 season.

¡°We had a conversation and they said they're really happy and really proud of what I've been doing and the steps that I've taken after having a little bit of a down year,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°Finishing strong throughout the regular season and then finishing strong here is a big plus.¡±

Going deep Friday certainly helped that notion. Facing southpaw Michael Prosecky (COL No. 17) in the fifth inning, the left-handed slugger watched a 91.9 mph fastball miss high to get him ahead in the count, 1-0. When he saw a second heater in the zone at the same velocity, he knew he wasn¡¯t going to miss it.

¡°He threw the fastball up, trying to change my eyesight,¡± Montgomery said. "But I saw the fastball pretty much right out of the hand. Then, I had a really good zone I was looking for. I was just trying to see the fastball down and he threw it.¡±

The result was a 370-foot, two-run dinger to right-center field. It left his bat with a 109.2 mph exit velocity -- Montgomery¡¯s second-highest recorded exit velocity of the Fall League and his highest on an extra-base hit.

After finishing the game 1-for-4, the No. 37 overall prospect completed his AFL stint with a .313/.511/.656 slash line, three homers, two doubles and a 6/10 K/BB ratio through 11 contests with the Desert Dogs. His .511 on-base percentage ranked third among Fall League qualifiers at the time of his departure, while his 1.167 OPS ranked fifth.

Compare that to Montgomery¡¯s regular season at Triple-A Charlotte and the numbers are like night and day.

The 22-year-old infielder slashed .214/.329/.381 with 18 homers and a career-high 28.6 percent strikeout rate this year. Montgomery may have been four years younger than the average International Leaguer, but for a 6-foot-3 player with plus power potential, the results at the top level of the Minors didn¡¯t match many expectations.

Montgomery showed positive signs as the season wore on -- his best monthly OPS came in September (.815) -- and carried that momentum into every plate appearance of the Fall League, right down to Friday¡¯s homer.

¡°I think the biggest thing was just my mentality,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°I was thinking that I was swinging every time pretty much -- reading the pitch and learning when to stop -- because I feel like sometimes I can get a little too passive. I would like to say I have a pretty good idea of my strike zone. ¡­ The more I stay on the hunt, I feel like the better that I am.¡±

It¡¯s an approach that Montgomery will take back to Nashville as he begins his offseason Saturday, preparing for a Spring Training return to Major League camp in Glendale where he intends to ¡°go for a job.¡±

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That¡¯s a shortstop job, by the way, because even though Montgomery made eight of his nine defensive AFL starts at third base, he still considers himself ¡°a shortstop playing third base,¡± adding that his late addition to a Desert Dogs roster loaded with shortstops (like Reds No. 3/No. 65 overall prospect Edwin Arroyo) made Montgomery more willing to move around to find the at-bats he needed to generate that crucial momentum.

How¡¯s this for progress: Montgomery needed 20 games to hit three homers in his first Arizona Fall League stint last season. With Friday¡¯s blast, he recorded the same amount in nine fewer contests.

¡°I don't try to hit homers anymore now,¡± Montgomery said. ¡°Sometimes it just happens. Like I said, end of the season, end of the Fall League season -- to end it with a bang is pretty cool.¡±