The eighth pick of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft has abruptly ended a six-year career that had stalled in Double-A.
Former Colorado Rockies prospect Benny Montgomery has retired from baseball at just 23 following years of injuries and inconsistency at the plate. In 2026, the right fielder was hitting just .203 with an equally unimpressive .272 on-base percentage and .372 slugging percentage, which represented a negligible improvement over his 2025 campaign.
Still, he’d been encouraged with his progress earlier in the season after adopting a new swing and regaining the strength in his surgically repaired shoulder.
‘I made a lot of adjustments in the offseason, just trying to quiet some movements down,’ Montgomery told The Denver Gazette in May. ‘My approach has been working out. I had a little bit of a slow start, but I was able to figure some things out and really trust my stuff and I’m getting my confidence back. That was much needed, and I feel as good as I have since 2024.’
But after a slight improvement in May, things only got worse for Montgomery in June, where he’d been hitting just .179 for the month.
Montgomery has not offered an explanation for his decision.
Former Colorado Rockies prospect Benny Montgomery has retired from baseball at just 23 following years of injuries and inconsistency at the plate. He did not provide an explanation
A star player at Red Land High School in Lewisberry, Pennsylvania, Montgomery was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior while drawing interest from college powerhouses like Virginia, Stanford, Duke and North Carolina.
But despite a commitment to play for the Cavaliers, Montgomery opted for the Rockies, who gave him a $5 million signing bonus after taking him eighth overall in 2021. Players that came after Montgomery included All-Stars like Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo, Washington Nationals left fielder James Wood, San Diego Padres centerfielder Jackson Merrill and closer Mason Miller, Cincinnati Reds southpaw Andrew Abbott and even another Rockies prospect in catcher Hunter Goodwin.
Of course, it’s easy to spot the discrepancies between Montgomery and those rising stars now. Over the last few years, Montgomery has enjoyed his bright spots.
In Low-A, he hit .313 with a .394 on-base percentage and very encouraging .502 slugging percentage – all signs of a promising young hitter.
But things changed in High-A, where Montgomery saw his strikeout rate shoot up to 27 percent.
In 2026, he was hitting just .203 with an equally unimpressive .272 on-base percentage and .372 slugging percentage, which represented a negligible improvement from 2025
He appeared to be back on track in 2024, but then Montgomery dislocated his shoulder and things only got worse from there.
The Rockies have struggled with first-round draft picks since 2018. Most recently, 2025 first-overall pick Ethan Holliday suffered a stress fracture in his left foot. The son of former Rockies slugger Matt Holiday, Ethan subsequently underwent season-ending surgery.
Last year, 2024 first-round draft pick Charlie Condon suffered a broken wrist for the Rockies in High-A, but has since recovered and is now playing with Triple-A Albuquerque.
