After signing a $10.35 million deal with the Chicago White Sox, Roch Cholowsky has shattered the record for an MLB Draft bonus, clearing the previous $9.3 million mark shared by Chase Burns and Charlie Condon in 2024.
Yet the size of Cholowsky’s signing bonus isn’t the only thing that stands out. His arrival also adds another elite shortstop to an organization that suddenly has an abundance of them.
The No. 1 overall pick now joins a White Sox farm system that already features six shortstops ranked among its top 30 prospects by MLB Pipeline. But if you ask general manager Chris Getz, the accumulation of shortstops is exactly how the organization wants to build its talent pipeline.
Ever since landing the first overall pick, Getz has been adamant that the organization place added value on premium positions such as center field, catcher, and shortstop. But Getz especially loves shortstops due to the athleticism and versatility they provide. All you need to do is look at his track record.
🔥 Subscribe to the Untold Chicago YouTube channel to hear Chicago legends tell stories you’ve never seen in headlines — real moments, real experiences, straight from the athletes themselves.
Cholowsky was the consensus favorite to go first overall from the moment the draft lottery ping pong ball bounced the White Sox’s way. But even as the front office weighed its options leading up to the draft, the only other player it seriously considered was another shortstop, Grady Emerson of Fort Worth Christian High School.
After trading away Jacob Gonzalez to the Pirates for the 34th overall pick, Getz used the additional draft capital to select yet another shortstop, Landon Thome.
The White Sox have now used four of their last six first-round picks on a shortstop. Getz worked as the team’s assistant general manager when the White Sox drafted Colson Montgomery in 2021 and Gonzalez in 2023. After Rick Hahn was fired in August 2023, Getz took the reins and used his first draft pick as general manager to take another shortstop, high-school standout Billy Carlson, with the No. 10 pick last year.
Any kid that plays baseball growing up knows that the team’s best player typically winds up playing shortstop. Even at the college level, where nearly everyone was once the best player on their team, shortstop remains the position reserved for the game’s most complete athletes. It’s a position that requires range, arm strength, and a high baseball IQ as the captain of the infield. Because of this, those skills can translate to almost anywhere on the diamond.
The White Sox have already begun putting that philosophy into practice at the major league level, moving Sam Antonacci to left field, while giving Colson Montgomery reps at third base. Luisangel Acuna, another infielder by trade, has also been moved across the diamond, while Gonzalez was asked to play first base before he was dealt to the Pirates.
While many assume Montgomery will eventually slide over to the hot corner full time once Cholowsky is called up, it’s not a foregone conclusion, considering Montgomery has already established himself as one of the best defensive shortstops in the American League.
Cholowsky is well aware of this, telling the Mully & Haugh show that he is willing to line up wherever the organization sees fit.
“I know on the big league team they have four shortstops on the field, or did before Jacob Gonzalez,” Cholowsky said. “They value athletes, and I believe that shortstops are some of the most athletic guys out there. So I just feel like I can really try to play wherever.”
For an organization that spent years lacking depth in the minor leagues, Getz’s strategy is helping to ensure they have plenty of players in the system capable of filling whatever void the big-league roster needs. If Cholowsky develops into the franchise cornerstone many scouts believe he can become, finding him a position will be a welcome problem for Getz.
