The White Sox Have the Hottest Prospect in the Arizona Fall League

As if an excellent 2025 season across three minor league levels wasn’t enough to get Chicago White Sox fans excited, infield prospect Sam Antonacci is rolling his dominance right into the Arizona Fall League.

Everywhere Antonacci has played, he’s hit — and hit a lot.

He was an All-State selection at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. As a freshman at Heartland Community College, he led the team with a .471 batting average and six triples. One year later, he dominated the national stage — leading all of JUCO baseball in batting average (.515), RBI (103), runs (105), hits (106), doubles (32), and on-base percentage (.618). He also slugged .903 with 14 home runs and swiped 33 bases.

Antonacci then transferred to Coastal Carolina, where in his lone season with the Chanticleers he hit .367 with a 1.027 OPS.

The White Sox selected Antonacci in the fifth round of the 2024 MLB Draft, signing him for $572,500 and assigning him to Kannapolis. In his first 23 professional games, he batted .333 with a .903 OPS, immediately showing the same polish that defined his college career.

That success set the stage for a breakout 2025. Between the ACL White Sox, Winston-Salem Dash (High-A), and Birmingham Barons (Double-A), Antonacci hit .291 with 21 doubles, six triples, five home runs, 48 stolen bases, and an .842 OPS. His performance vaulted him to the No. 11 prospect in the White Sox organization, anchored by a 55-grade hit tool.

“An extremely disciplined left-handed hitter, Antonacci takes a lot of pitches, rarely chases out of the strike zone, and makes repeated contact to all fields. He may take the most competitive at-bats in the system and has a knack for putting the bat on the ball against quality pitching,” — MLB Pipeline scouting report.

Evaluators project Antonacci as a future second baseman at the big-league level, though he’s gained recent experience across three infield spots.

The White Sox sent Antonacci — along with several other top prospects — to the Arizona Fall League to gain more reps with the Glendale Desert Dogs. Against some of the best young talent in baseball, Antonacci has stood out above the rest.

Over his last four games, he’s gone 9-for-13 (.692) with a home run, an RBI, five runs scored, four walks, and five stolen bases. Baseball America recently dubbed him “the hottest prospect in the desert.”

Through 11 games in the AFL, Antonacci is hitting .364 with a 1.017 OPS and a pair of home runs — showing both contact ability and emerging pop.

There’s a reason White Sox assistant GM Josh Barfield mentioned Antonacci as a prospect he’s “bullish” on — one that doesn’t get nearly enough love. Antonacci looks every bit like a professional hitter who’s going to carve out a role on the South Side before long.

The Illinois native turns 23 this offseason, and there’s still plenty of room for growth. Expect him to start 2026 in Double-A Birmingham, with a legitimate shot to reach Triple-A Charlotte — or even Chicago — by midseason.

This is a name White Sox fans need to know.