The Chicago White Sox are fast-tracking the development of their 2025 first-round draft pick, giving shortstop Billy Carlson an aggressive first assignment in pro ball.
The Chicago White Sox have decided to get a bit aggressive with the assignment of 2025 first-round draft pick Billy Carlson.
It was announced this week that when the White Sox break camp and disperse to their respective affiliate cities for the start of the 2026 regular season, Carlson will be off to Kannapolis to join the Low-A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers.
It will be his first taste of formal professional baseball, and a very telling year about the developmental path he is on.
Carlson is widely recognized for his defensive prowess. He was considered the top defensive player in the 2025 draft class, and there is little doubt that he will stick at shortstop long-term as he matures.
The big question revolves around his bat, and whether or not he will be able to hold his own as he begins to see more advanced pitching. All of the athletic traits are there. Now it's on the White Sox to properly develop Carlson.
Carlson will be following the same path that Caleb Bonemer took one year before him. Bonemer was also drafted out of high school, albeit in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft, and got his first taste of professional baseball with Kannapolis as a 19-year-old in 2025.
Bonemer actually earned himself a call-up to Winston-Salem by the end of the year. Over 107 games between the two levels, he posted 30 doubles, 12 home runs, 29 stolen bases, and a .874 OPS. That's why some prospect outlets believe Bonemer has the ceiling of a top-20 prospect in all of baseball and a future superstar for the White Sox.
It's fair to say we'll be seeing similar buzz about Billy Carlson if he has some of the same success. But it is a bit of an aggressive assignment, especially for a prospect with really raw offensive tools.
“Most scouts who covered Carlson as an amateur believed he'd need to remake his offensive game in pro ball because there was too much going on with his setup and right-handed swing,” reads his prospect profile on MLB Pipeline, which ranks him fifth in the White Sox organization and 73rd in baseball.
When most White Sox fans think of the future—both imminent and long-term—Carlson isn't one of the first names that comes to mind, even though he was drafted in the top ten and has as much upside as anyone in the organization right now. That's probably because he has never taken a professional at-bat yet and, in the eyes of most, is still that very raw offensive product who will need years to develop.
But I'd encourage White Sox fans to remember that Carlson was an older high schooler at the time of the draft. He's already 19 years old and will turn 20 in July of this year. So it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the White Sox are getting aggressive with his assignment, nor should it be a surprise if they get aggressive with promotions if he succeeds.
In an ideal world, Carlson's timeline to the show isn't too far off from someone like Bonemer. That would allow the White Sox to have young talent coming up in waves.
They're only nine months apart in age, despite feeling like prospects at totally different stages of their careers.
And if this isn't enough to get you watching some Kannapolis Cannon Ballers baseball on MLB.TV in 2026, there's a good chance we see outfielder Jaden Fauske and left-handed pitcher Blake Larson with that team to open the season. Those are some of the more exciting prospects in the White Sox organization, with untapped upside that could transform the rebuild entirely.