MLB Draft: Chicago White Sox take UCLA SS Roch Cholowsky after months of debate
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After months of deliberation, the Chicago White Sox have made their selection at No. 1 overall in the 2026 MLB Draft.
The White Sox decided to pick experience over potential, selecting UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the first overall pick in the MLB Draft.
2026 MLB Draft::
It came down to two shortstops for the White Sox. High school shortstop Grady Emerson and Cholowsky.
Cholowsky is the selection.
He became the first No. 1 overall pick by the White Sox since the team took Hall of Fame outfielder Harold Baines out of St. Michaels (Md.) High School in 1977.
The tale of the tape was that Emerson might have the higher ceiling, being just a high school prospect who has so much more of his game to unlock.
While Cholowsky doesn't have the same ceiling that Emerson has, the UCLA shortstop has been the best player in college baseball and has lived up to the hype his game brought him as a high schooler.
In the release announcing the selection, the White Sox noted that area scout Carlos Muniz recommended Cholowsky.
The backstory:
You could have made the case for each of the three top prospects.
Cholowsky was up against Emerson and Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey to be the top pick.
Cholowsky is now the choice. He'll add his experience and potential to a stout White Sox pipeline.
During his junior year at UCLA, Cholowsky led the Bruins in home runs (21), on-base percentage, extra base hits, runs scored, OPS, slugging percentage and total bases. He also finished second in RBI and third in batting average. He won his second-consecutive Big Ten Player of the Year honors.
According to his MLB.com prospect profile, he's considered by some evaluators to be the best all-around college shortstop prospect since Troy Tulowitzki.
The White Sox may have chosen the safer player of the two, but that meshes perfectly with an infield that includes Colson Montgomery, All-Star Miguel Vargas and more.
Dig deeper:
The Sox made a late-night trade yesterday, sending releiver Brandon Eisert and infielder Jacob Gonzalez to the Pirates for the No. 34 overall selection.
This brings the White Sox's bonus pool to over $20 million while also giving the Sox three selections in the top 41 picks of the draft.