White Sox Have a Rising Star Dominating the Arizona Fall League

On October 17, I recapped the Arizona Fall League and which Chicago White Sox prospects were making names for themselves.

At the time, infielder Colby Shelton was struggling at the plate, with a .154 batting average and a .527 OPS. An unquestionably disappointing start.

But in the two weeks since, Shelton has been red-hot. He's been one of the best hitters in the entire AFL and continues to showcase what makes him so special as a prospect. When Colby Shelton is seeing the ball well, it's unbelievable how consistently he produces at the plate.

That was made clear by how he started the season with the High-A Winston-Salem Dash. Shelton opened the year against South Atlantic League pitching with a .378 batting average and a .720 slugging percentage, recording 23 RBIs in 22 games before winning Player of the Month honors in April. An unconscious level of production that even had Caleb Bonemer beside himself.

"When he's hot, I've never seen anything like it before," Bonemer recently said of Shelton, who was also his roommate for the Arizona Fall League.

In 15 total games for the Glendale Desert Dogs, Shelton is now hitting .277 with three home runs, 17 RBIs, and an .890 OPS. Those 17 RBIs are tied for the fourth most of any player in the Arizona Fall League.

Shelton had a bit of a complex offensive profile when the White Sox selected him in the sixth round of the 2025 MLB Draft out of the University of Florida. In college, he showed the ability to hit for serious power, launching 25 home runs at Alabama in 2023. But during his final year of college baseball at Florida, he hit only seven home runs while raising his batting average by 77 points and posting a .458 on-base percentage.

The bat-to-ball skills were there. The power was there. But was there a way for Shelton to piece it all together and become a dangerous all-around offensive player?

There were signs of that in 2026, which is why Shelton is now the No. 23-ranked prospect in the White Sox organization. He finished the year with 34 doubles, 24 home runs, 82 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, and an .826 OPS. Even if he's prone to some swing-and-miss and may never hit .300 as a professional, it's become clear that Shelton is a run producer. He's a guy who can do damage at the plate, and as Bonemer pointed out, when he's locked in, he can completely take over a game.

That's a highly intriguing asset for the White Sox moving forward, and it's been on display on a semi-national stage in the AFL this fall.

Playing against elite competition in Arizona tends to teach you a lot about these players. When it comes to Colby Shelton, we've learned just how real his upside is and how closely White Sox fans need to watch him moving forward.