White Sox poised to choose UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with No. 1 pick

The White Sox were poised to use the No. 1 pick on a shortstop, and MLB Pipeline’s final mock draft put UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky ahead of Fort Worth Christian’s Grady Emerson. Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis both projected Chicago to take Cholowsky, even as they made clear the decision had narrowed to two players and that the club would add a shortstop to its organization.

That choice came down to a familiar front-office calculation. Emerson entered the draft as MLB Pipeline’s top-ranked prospect and the highest-rated prep player, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound left-handed hitter with the kind of upside that can reshape a roster. Cholowsky, meanwhile, brought the cleaner college track. UCLA named him a finalist for the 2026 Golden Spikes Award, and MLB described him as the consensus national college player of the year as a sophomore. The White Sox were weighing ceiling against certainty, and the mock suggested Chicago’s higher-level voices could favor the more refined player who might reach the majors faster.

The financial stakes were just as large. MLB set the No. 1 slot value at $11,350,600, and Chicago’s total bonus pool at $20,489,500 was the biggest in the bonus-pool era since 2012. That gives the White Sox unusual flexibility, but it also puts a premium on getting the pick right at a time when the organization is still trying to turn the page from a 102-loss season in 2025 and an MLB-record 121-loss season in 2024.

Chicago won the No. 1 pick in MLB’s fourth annual draft lottery on Dec. 9, 2025, in Orlando, giving the franchise its third first-overall selection after Danny Goodwin in 1971 and Harold Baines in 1977. The draft itself was held in Philadelphia during All-Star Week, with NBC and Peacock carrying the first 10 picks and MLB Network and MLB platforms handling the rest of Day 1. Day 2 followed on Sunday, July 12, with rounds 5-20.

If Cholowsky and Emerson went one-two as projected, Vahn Lackey of Georgia Tech was the likely No. 3 pick for Minnesota. For Chicago, the bigger question was whether the franchise used its rare top selection to buy the shortest path back, or the highest-end talent available at the top of the board.