2026 MLB Draft Thread...White Sox Control Draft/Roch the House

[southsider2k5]

7 hours ago, Chick Mercedes said:

Even we aren’t so cursed as to get #7. Right?

Are we doing 6/7 jokes yet?

[Bob Sacamano]

3 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

Are we doing 6/7 jokes yet?

Lol 

[Ozzie for Manager]

Tonight is the night.  Sacrifice chickens or your first born if you need to.  Everything is on the table. I have decided to pull out the reinsdorf voodoo doll.  

[southsider2k5]

Can we get the Pope to the draft as our good luck charm?

[DirtySox]

LET'S FUCKING GOOOO. LET THE DRAFT HYPE RAIN UPON US!

WHERE ARE MY DRAFT FOLKS? GROUP HUG. MALORT FOR ALL!

Edited 11 hours ago by DirtySox

[caulfield12]

Are they/we going to have Adopt A Sox prospect .... except one different  person/poster responsible for each of the likely first five to six/seven/eight possible picks at the top of the 2026 amateur draft?

Like PR/hype guys from the 70s and 80s glory days of boxing?

Seems Harold has mostly played that role in recent years...and a few others that follow college/amateur baseball and the minors most closely.

[caulfield12]

https://www.perfectgame.org/articles/View.aspx?article=23786

 

You have those three very well-known collegiate players in the Top 5.

Two outfielders and Liam Peterson out of UFlorida.

A lot of high schoolers.

Edited 11 hours ago by caulfield12

[DirtySox]

First BA mock is live! Here's the top 5 picks.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2026-mlb-mock-draft-first-round-picks-with-lottery-complete-order-set/

Quote

1. White Sox — Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA
Cholowsky is the overwhelming favorite to go first overall. College shortstops of this caliber are rare, and Cholowsky, the 2025 College Player of the Year, offers loud tools across the board to go with a rock-solid offensive track record. In two years with UCLA, he has hit .333/.446/.618 with 31 home runs and 31 doubles. 

2. Rays — Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth Christian HS, North Richland Hills, Texas
In a draft that wasn’t topped by Cholowsky, Emerson would be in the mix for 1-1 conversations regularly. He could be a better prospect than either of the two prep shortstops who went inside the first four picks in last year’s draft. Emerson is an advanced pure hitter with a lengthy track record who should stick at the position and be a good defender. 

3. Twins — Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama 
Lebron was one of the most impressive hitters in the country in the first half of the 2025 season before fading a bit down the stretch. He has impact potential in his righthanded bat with great bat speed and power, though he’ll need to cut down his strikeouts in 2026. Lebron has hit .327/.425/.593 with 30 home runs and 27 doubles in two seasons with Alabama. 

4. Giants — AJ Gracia, OF, Virginia
Gracia is an imposing and physical hitter with a special combination of contact ability and power that could turn him into a middle-of-the-lineup force. He managed a 1.000 OPS or better in each of his first two seasons with Duke and has walked at an 18.7% clip for his career to go with 29 home runs. 

5. Pirates — Derek Curiel, OF, LSU
Swings like Curiel’s don’t typically get to a college campus. LSU fans were the beneficiaries and got to see what one of the best pure hitters in the class looks like. Curiel slashed .345/.470/.519 with seven home runs and 20 doubles in 2025. He also struck out at a 17.3% clip and walked 16.4% of the time. 

Edited 11 hours ago by DirtySox

[DirtySox]

Kiley with his first mock as well.

Quote

1. Chicago White Sox: Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA

Cholowsky was a big name in the 2023 draft, ranking 32nd on my final board as a standout defender with solid tools, but questions on his overall offensive upside along with a big asking price. His bonus price wasn't met and he was solid as a freshman at UCLA, then took a huge jump forward as a sophomore, hitting 23 home runs last season.

He is still a standout defender but now both his (above-average) hit and (plus) power tools have developed, allowing evaluators to go back over the last decade and find comps at the tops of previous drafts, like Dansby Swanson or Troy Tulowitzki. Cholowsky has a pretty solid lead on the pack for the top pick right now, but it isn't insurmountable due to the solid group of up-the-middle, high-upside talents in this class.

The lottery couldn't have gone better for the White Sox after a 102-loss season, landing the top pick in a year where there is a clear preseason favorite to be the top pick. Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery are solid shortstop options in the big leagues with Caleb Bonemer and Billy Carlson as Top 100 types in the low minors, but Cholowsky would give the White Sox a great problem: too many good players at the most important position on the field.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/47246954/2026-mlb-draft-lottery-mock-draft-top-5-picks-white-sox-rays-twins-giants-pirates

Edited 10 hours ago by DirtySox

[caulfield12]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFmnzV_gGI&pp=ygUbdWNsYSBiYXNlYmFsbCBTUyBoaWdobGlnaHRz0gcJCSUKAYcqIYzv

[caulfield12]

Cholowsky makes a ton of contact with an 18.3% swing-miss rate in 2025 with an 11% mark in-zone. He’s great against breaking balls as well, with an 80% contact rate and .323 xwOBAcon vs. spin. There’s 60-grade swing decisions here, with a Z-Swing minus Chase% >45% and poor swing rate at 20%, which is a positive indicator for me. He’s got plus power with a 112 mph max EV and 106.5 mph 90th EV, with his spray being fully optimized for damage to his pull-side. He ran a 41.5% air pull rate this year with all 23 of his HRs being pulled and his xwOBA to the pull-side is .260 higher than it is to the opposite field, which is off note, but not an inherent concern for me. He’s also shown some weakness vs. velocity when elevated in the strike zone, with an 69.5% contact rate vs. pitches 92+ mph in the upper third, which was also present in a small sample with the USA College National Team this summer, which is more of a byproduct of late-trigger than anything else as he has good actions in the box with an adjustable VBA. The contact quality in the aggregate has been solid, though. He ran a 31.3% barrel rate with a 36% sweep spot rate in 2025, in addition to posting a .375 xwOBAcon. He’s a great athlete who projects to handle shortstop long-term.

https://medium.com/@AE-Draft-Blog/early-analysis-2026-college-hitters-7b1a60fef61f

Edited 10 hours ago by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Burruss is just too small to risk with a #1-1 pick.

Comes down to the two college SS's and prep LHB Colt Emerson at this point in time.

Cholowsky and Justin LeBron are both very good or even great athletes but not pure speed burner.

https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb-draft/roch-cholowsky-ucla-shortstop-2026-mlb-draft/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwi_pLiu57GRAxVjHjQIHSEAHcIQFnoECAIQAg&usg=AOvVaw35sWG9M_kqc8twG9Ndhu6I

Edited 9 hours ago by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 60 | Run: 45 | Arm: 60 | Field: 60 | Overall: 65

Cholowsky, the son of former Minor Leaguer and long-time scout Dan Cholowsky, was a top 50 player as a two-sport athlete from the Hamilton High School program in Arizona that produced Cody Bellinger. His commitment to UCLA priced him out and he ended up the highest-ranked player not selected in the 2023 Draft. After a solid freshman year with the Bruins he vaulted himself to the top of 2026 Draft boards by posting a 1.190 OPS with 23 homers as a sophomore, and is considered by some to be the best all-around college shortstop prospect since Troy Tulowitzki.

A 6-foot-2 right-handed hitter, Cholowsky has the chance to have four plus tools when all is said and done.

[caulfield12]

"He’s not a runner, though he’s smart on the basepaths.

That lack of pure speed won’t impact him as a defender; he uses what he has in short spaces very well. That, along with his plus instincts, allow him to get to most balls at shortstop, where he profiles as a plus defender with a plus arm. A leader who was a high school quarterback, he serves as the head of his infield in the same manner. His tools and makeup make him look like the kind of player who could be big league ready in a hurry."

 

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/2026/draft/

 

Edited 9 hours ago by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

2028 projected Sox lineup

 

LF Baldwin*/Benintendi

CF ??? Everson Pereira for now...but doubtful he's the long-term answer.

RF Braden Montgomery

3B Colson Montgomery/Caleb Bonemer

SS Roch Cholowsky

2B Billy Carlson*/Sam Antonacci

1B C.Bonemer/C.Montgomery

C Teel/Quero

 

Need to get lots of speed/athleticism into LF and CF, since Billy Carlson would constitute the only plus runner across all the position players, other than possibly Baldwin (if he can actually stick long term as a starter.)

[PaleAleSox]

Change that title, baby!

[DirtySox]

Joe Doyle also has his first mock.

Quote

Roch Cholowsky
Bats: R, Throws: R
It's been tough sledding for the Chicago White Sox the last few years. Another 100-loss campaign in 2025 garaunteed the Southsiders the best odds to land the No. 1 pick in the Draft -- nearly a 28 percent chance. In this scenario, the White Sox finally land that 'luxury'.

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky is as complete an offensive prospect as we've seen in recent memory. It's five tools with the chance to hit in the middle of the lineup. Better still, his plus defense gives him a chance to become a franchise pillar over time. Cholowsky has the toolset that can develop into a 5-win shortstop at the next level.

Chicago has a ways to climb before they're back competing in the American League Central. Cholowsky could help creak open that window as early as 2028

https://overslotbaseball.com/mock-drafts/2026-mlb-mock-draft-first-round/

Edited 8 hours ago by DirtySox

[DirtySox]

 

 

[GreenSox]

Hurrah!

Now get it right!

Edited 8 hours ago by GreenSox

[DirtySox]

Edited 8 hours ago by DirtySox

[DirtySox]

9 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

 

 

And by #42 overall he actually means Landon Thome. 🙃

Edited 8 hours ago by DirtySox

[chitownsportsfan]

8 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

 

 

So basically injecting 1,1 and then like 25-30th if they play their cards right at 42. Not bad at all. Could get a star and then another B+ type prospect just in two picks.

[DirtySox]

12 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

 

 

[caulfield12]

43 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

Joe Doyle also has his first mock.

https://overslotbaseball.com/mock-drafts/2026-mlb-mock-draft-first-round/

A 45 grade runner isn't a true five tool guy.

Wasn't Madrigal supposedly at 50 coming out of Oregon State?

His first step quickness/agility/instincts on defense make up for it...there seem to be zero questions about sticking at SS after dramatically cutting down on error totals in his sophomore season.

Edited 8 hours ago by caulfield12

[chitownsportsfan]

Some video of Grady Emerson:

Smooth AF at SS, I was getting mad at him patting the ball in some other highlights then he throws 95 mph and it beats the guy by three steps. From the plate looks a lot like Teel imo. Compact lefty stroke, power potential.