The White Sox have played .500 baseball in the month of April and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. After the rough start to the season, that’s pretty good. Now, they sit just 1.5 games back from the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the American League Central. This is an unlikely pace for them to sustain, but we are better at this point than most people thought.
With that, the White Sox can focus on developing their young players and forming a winning culture. That culture will continue to build as they promote more top prospects as we approach the All-Star break. That is a huge week for the White Sox, as they hold the first pick in the MLB draft after winning the draft lottery.
This was a great year to win the lottery, as there is a generational prospect available for the White Sox. That would be Roch Cholowsky, a shortstop from the University of California, Los Angeles.
After a sophomore season that saw him become one of the best players in college baseball, he’s followed it up with another fantastic season. In 44 games, he’s hit. 331 with a .462 on base percentage. He’s added 18 home runs, 52 RBIs, and he’s walked 26 times compared to 28 strikeouts. While this isn’t quite what he did last year, at least in terms of K/BB ratio and batting average, the power numbers are up, as he will likely finish with more home runs this season.
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Regardless, he has done nothing to suggest that he should not be the first overall pick in this year’s draft. However, recent reports from Bob Nightengale are starting to scare White Sox fans. According to Nightengale, the White Sox are still unsure on who they will pick first overall. Additionally, it is unclear on whether the White Sox are Cholowsky’s top preference.
The #WhiteSox still appear “uncertain” on Roch Cholowsky while continuing to weigh their options at No. 1 overall, per @BNightengale pic.twitter.com/VvzkHEyYGF
— Adrian White (@AdrianWhiteSox) April 26, 2026
This is frustrating to hear as a White Sox fan, as Cholowsky is the type of player you dream of selecting with the first overall pick. However, since it is still so early, we have no choice but to believe that this is all smoke and mirrors as to not drive up the price of the signing bonus. Plus, publicly committing to a pick in April wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do as an organization. But, it is a bit strange to hear a report like this from Bob.
However, if these reports are true, it would be malpractice for the White Sox not to select Cholowsky with the first overall pick, as players like him don’t grow on trees.
Roch Cholowsky homered for the 18th time today, his 5th homer in the last five games — his 4th in the last three games.
He's scorching hot right now and leaving very little doubt…pic.twitter.com/qvVhybJ0hr
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) April 29, 2026
While there are certainly some other players in the draft that could be the first overall pick in other draft classes, Cholowsky is on another level. We have to take this report with a grain of salt, as it’s pretty clear that Cholowsky should be the pick. But, if they don’t pick him, and he becomes a superstar while whoever the White Sox select doesn’t, that’s a fireable offense.
At this point, it is best to believe that this report is out there as to not give the obvious away and that the White Sox are just simply doing their due diligence with all the other top players. While Chris Getz hasn’t been perfect, he’s done a pretty good job rebuilding this organization from top to bottom, including adding smart baseball people around him. I believe that at the end of the day Cholowsky will be the choice, so we can all take a deep breath and relax.
