The White Sox are taking a cautious approach with their prized prospect, ending his first professional season after just nine games with High-A Winston-Salem.
After missing a handful of games with wrist soreness, which was initially projected to be a day-to-day injury, Chicago White Sox first overall draft pick Roch Cholowsky is now being shut down for the remainder of the 2026 season.
The initial expectation was that Cholowsky would return to the lineup for the High-A Winston-Salem Dash over the weekend. He had not appeared in a game for the Dash since August 15, but with the regular season ending on September 6, the White Sox are choosing to take a conservative approach with their prized top prospect and end his 2026 campaign early.
Cholowsky played just nine games for Winston-Salem this season, hitting .167 with one home run, 10 RBIs, and a .659 OPS. Still, his numbers and injury are nothing for White Sox fans to be overly concerned about. The projection for Cholowsky remains the same, both when it comes to his ceiling and his timeline to reach Major League Baseball. Two weeks were not going to change that one way or the other.
In addition to Cholowsky, the White Sox also announced that shortstop Billy Carlson, their first-round pick and the 10th overall selection in the 2025 MLB Draft, would be done for the year as well. Carlson has dealt with a few different injuries this season, the most recent of which is a skin infection.
In 57 games with Low-A Kannapolis this season, Carlson hit .256 with a .726 OPS. Things certainly could have gone a bit better for him, but a .753 OPS over his final 44 games of the season gives the White Sox some confidence that he can take a significant step forward during his age-20 campaign next year.
One of the prevailing questions surrounding Cholowsky now is whether we are done seeing him in 2026. We may not see him play again for the Winston-Salem Dash, but the White Sox could choose to get him some additional experience in the Arizona Fall League after the minor league season winds down. For a player like Cholowsky, who seems to be on a fast track toward the MLB level, experience against some of minor league baseball’s top competition could be incredibly valuable.
If shutting him down for the remainder of the minor league season allows his wrist to fully heal, we could see a healthy Cholowsky remind everyone why he was the first overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft. Still, I think it is a sound decision for the White Sox to play things safe with some of their top prospects and ensure that these injury issues do not linger or affect their performance on the field.
That being said, it is, of course, a bit disappointing that we did not get to see more of Cholowsky after he was drafted.
