UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is emerging as the favorite to go No. 1 in the 2026 MLB Draft, and MLB Pipeline already projects him to become one of the top prospects in all of baseball with the White Sox.
The Chicago White Sox have rebuilt their farm system to the point where they now have a core of talented young players at the MLB level and another wave of prospects still on the way.
Outfielder Braden Montgomery, left-handed pitcher Noah Schultz, and shortstop Caleb Bonemer highlight the current crop of top prospects in the White Sox system.
Someone like Schultz is likely to make his MLB debut in 2026, while Bonemer may be farther away. But Bonemer’s development could continue to skyrocket his stock and prospect ranking in the coming years.
And yet, the most exciting piece of Chicago’s future farm system is a player who hasn’t even joined the organization yet.
The White Sox hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, and UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is running away as the easy favorite to be the top selection.
Cholowsky has played in 16 games during the 2026 college baseball season, and he already has nine home runs, 22 RBIs, and a 1.322 OPS.
Add in his superb defense at a premium position like shortstop and, yeah, you’re looking at one of the most anticipated college prospects of the last 20 years.
In a recent article from the MLB Pipeline crew — Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis, and Sam Dykstra — the group made prospect predictions while looking into a crystal ball to project the future of every team’s farm system.
And not only did they project Cholowsky to go No. 1 overall in the draft, but where he could slot into the overall prospect rankings across baseball is sure to excite White Sox fans.
“Not only will Cholowsky go No. 1 in the 2026 Draft, he'll rank as the No. 3 overall prospect on the Top 100 Prospects list following his pro debut, trailing only fellow shortstops Jesús Made (Brewers) and Leo De Vries (Athletics). The best all-around college shortstop since Troy Tulowitzki, Cholowsky has launched nine homers in his first 16 games for UCLA this season. He'll get a cup of coffee at Double-A this summer, setting him on course to reach Chicago at some point in 2027.” (via MLB Pipeline)
If that doesn’t get you fired up, I don’t know what will.
The fact that a White Sox prospect could be drafted, immediately become a Top 3 prospect in the entire sport, jump straight to Double-A, and reach the major leagues by 2027 is honestly hard to wrap your head around.
But it’s exactly why I considered the MLB Draft Lottery to be one of the most important days in recent White Sox history, and I didn’t view that as hyperbole at the time.
You’re talking about adding a potential MLB superstar and inserting him into the mix almost immediately. That accelerates the White Sox rebuild by years.
And if the 2026 season goes according to plan for both the major league roster and the prospects still developing in the system, 2027 could quickly become a year of legitimate expectations on the South Side.
And Roch Cholowsky will be a big part of that.