The 2026 MLB draft is in the books and the White Sox class has received positive reviews by most evaluators. The team drafted 11 players in MLB Pipeline’s Top-250 and is expected to sign all of them. MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis listed them as one of his favorite classes, and it starts with first overall pick Roch Cholowsky. The UCLA standout joins the White Sox after two impressive seasons at the college level, and he’s excited to get to work. Cholowsky didn’t waste any time signing his deal, with the reported signing bonus figure around $10.3 million dollars.
No. 1 overall pick Roch Cholowsky has passed his physical & will sign with @WhiteSox for $10.35 million (slot value = $11,350,600). Shatters @MLBDraft bonus record of $9.3 mil set by Chase Burns & Charlie Condon in 2024. Best all-around college shortstop since Troy Tulowitzki. pic.twitter.com/PdEEto6SBv
— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) July 13, 2026
Roch Cholowsky's record-breaking deal won't inhibit the White Sox signings
It’s an eye-popping amount for Cholowsky, who surpasses the previous record held by Chase Burns and Charlie Condon by nearly a million dollars. Second overall pick Grady Emerson is expected to get a similar amount from the Rays, setting a standard for future draft classes. The White Sox total bonus pool exceeded $20 million, and each team is allowed a slight overage, giving the team the ability to spend over $21 million on their draft class. Cholowsky receiving nearly half the bonus pool may seem startling, but even his record-breaking deal is $1 million short of the slot value, giving the White Sox flexibility to sign the rest of their class.
Much of the remaining savings will go to 34th overall pick Landon Thome and second-round pick Cole Prosek, a pair of prep bats that will be signed away from their college commitments. Third and Fourth round picks Joey Volchko and Eric Segura may sign for right around slot value, but the White Sox can save money by under-slotting senior slugger Jayson Jones and relievers Luke Craytor, Isaac Yeager, and Darin Horn. Sixth-round pick Alex Weingartner and 11th-round pick Kyle Casteel are both prep players and will likely need to be over-slotted as well. In addition, scouting director Mike Shirley indicated that the White Sox will not sign 20th-round pick Connor Fennell unless a medical issue affects another signing.
How the specific money will be distributed remains to be seen, but I’m fully confident that the White Sox wouldn’t have taken big swings on some of these players if they didn’t have the expectation that a deal would get done. The White Sox likely had a deal negotiated with Cholowsky and his agents before the draft, so they knew how much it would take to sign him, and they’ve done the math to figure out how it works with the other signees.
With 20 of the 21 players the White Sox drafted expected to sign, the organization will receive another influx of talent in the farm system. Roch Cholowsky should immediately become the team’s top prospect, and Landon Thome and Cole Prosek will also likely be in the top ten. With a major league team in a playoff position and a farm system continuing to get stronger, fun times are ahead on the south side of Chicago.
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