Former Colorado Rockies eighth overall pick Benny Montgomery has retired from baseball at just 23 after years of injuries and uneven hitting. In 2026, he struggled at the plate with a .203 average and a .272 on-base percentage, despite moments of belief earlie
For Benny Montgomery, the last at-bat never really mattered—because the career itself has now ended. The former Colorado Rockies prospect, and the eighth pick of the 2021 Major League Baseball draft, has abruptly retired from baseball at just 23.
The numbers from the current season give a cold snapshot of where things were headed. In 2026, Montgomery—listed as a right fielder—was hitting .203 with an .272 on-base percentage and a .372 slugging percentage. Those marks didn’t represent a meaningful step forward from his 2025 campaign.
Earlier in 2026, though, there was a reason to believe. Montgomery said that after adopting a new swing, he’d found more stability in his surgically repaired shoulder and felt his confidence returning.
“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.”.
June pulled the rug out from under that progress. After a slight improvement in May, things worsened for Montgomery—he hit just .179 in June.
Montgomery has not offered an explanation for his decision, leaving the sudden end of a six-year career to land with unanswered questions. What is clear is that injuries and inconsistency at the plate defined much of the journey.
Montgomery was a star early on. At Red Land High School in Lewisberry. Pennsylvania. he was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior. He had drawn interest from college powers including Virginia, Stanford, Duke and North Carolina, yet he ultimately chose the Rockies. Colorado rewarded that pick with a $5 million signing bonus, taking Montgomery eighth overall in 2021.
The contrast between Montgomery’s trajectory and the names who came after him has become hard to ignore. Players drafted after Montgomery have included All-Stars such as Seattle Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo. Washington Nationals left fielder James Wood. San Diego Padres centerfielder Jackson Merrill. and closer Mason Miller. along with Cincinnati Reds southpaw Andrew Abbott. Even within the Rockies’ system, another prospect followed him—catcher Hunter Goodwin.
Montgomery’s early production offered real promise before the cracks widened. In Low-A. he hit .313 with a .394 on-base percentage and .502 slugging percentage—numbers that looked like the profile of a hitter who was building momentum. High-A brought a rougher reality: his strikeout rate climbed to 27 percent.
He also appeared to be back on track in 2024, until the shoulder injury changed everything. Montgomery dislocated his shoulder in 2024, and after that, things only got worse.
The Rockies’ recent first-round draft history has carried its own strain. Since 2018, Colorado has struggled with first-round picks. In 2025, first overall pick Ethan Holliday suffered a stress fracture in his left foot and subsequently underwent season-ending surgery. Holliday’s father is former Rockies slugger Matt Holliday. 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.
In Montgomery’s case, the season that began with adjustments and hope ended with a sharp drop—and then an exit. With no explanation for why he stepped away, his retirement at 23 closes a career that, for stretches, looked close to turning the corner, and then didn’t.
Benny Montgomery Colorado Rockies MLB draft 2021 retirement at 23 2026 stats .203 batting average surgically repaired shoulder Ethan Holliday Charlie Condon