MLB Pipeline has released new rankings for the Top 100 prospects in baseball. The new iteration of the list accounts for trades, mid season shifts, and recent draftees from the 2025 class.
The Chicago White Sox now have six (6) players in the Top 100 after the update, but a few of their promising prospects were knocked way down in the rankings.
Reading between the lines, it's also easy to tell that the White Sox do not have any prospects that “just missed” the list. There’s a big gap after the top six in the organization.
6 White Sox prospects crack the Top 100
Outfielder Braden Montgomery is now the No. 1 prospect in the White Sox organization. He was the highest rated player of the bunch, coming in at No. 33 in the new update.
Montgomery has made it to Double-A Birmingham in his first professional season. He has the necessary tools to develop into a consistent 20-20 outfielder in the Major Leagues.
Noah Schultz understandably dropped to No. 38 on the list after his recent struggles in Triple-A.
Schultz has had control issues this season, and a rough three outings in Charlotte have raised his season ERA to 4.76. He’s still got nasty stuff and potential to be a frontline starting pitcher, but there’s certainly been some growing pains in 2025 that have worried White Sox fans.
Colson Montgomery is up to No. 71 on the Top 100 list. While he was once the No. 9 prospect in all of baseball, Montgomery was removed from the list completely earlier this season. His improved play over the summer in both Charlotte and Chicago has earned him a place back on the list.
With 10 home runs since the All-Star break as a plus defensive shortstop, Montgomery’s ceiling appears to be astronomically high.
Two other contenders to be the White Sox shortstop of the future are also on the Top 100 list.
Billy Carlson was the 10th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft by the White Sox. He lands at No. 79 on the updated list.
Carlson is the 9th ranked prospect among the recent draftees on the Top 100 list, which feels wrong considering MLB.com had him as the No. 7 prospect in the class pre-draft.
Liam Doyle and JoJo Parker were both ranked below him before the draft but are ranked higher than him now. Perhaps some anti-White Sox bias is showing from MLB.com there.
Another shortstop in the Top 100 is Caleb Bonemer, who the White Sox drafted in the second round back in 2024. Bonemer, still just 19 years old, is up to No. 88 on the list with his .838 OPS and 25 stolen bases for Low-A Kannapolis.
He has a long way to go, but Bonemer’s blend of speed, power, and plate discipline (.401 OBP) should go along the way to helping him continue to climb the prospect ladder.
Hagen Smith rounds out the group of White Sox prospects on the list. He comes in at No. 93, which is a massive demotion for the 2024 first-round pick.
Key White Sox prospects get knocked down the list
As good as it might be to see six White Sox prospects in the Top 100 again, the way some of them got knocked down in the rankings is a real concern.
Baseball America removed Hagen Smith from their Top 100 list altogether writing that “Smith won Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year honors at Arkansas in 2024 and was drafted fifth overall. But with struggles in command and an elbow injury, he's taken a step back.”
Dropping him 60 spots like MLB.com or dropping him off the list like Baseball America feels far too harsh. Smith is a 21-year-old lefty with 13.5 K/9 in Double-A and an ERA of 3.60.
The lack of innings and an early elbow injury are definitely caused for concern, but we can’t pretend like that’s not the case for many of the prospects on the top 100 list.
Andrew Painter has a 5.42 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP in the minor leagues this season. He did not pitch in 2023 or 2024 either, yet somehow, he is still ranked the No. 10 prospect in all of baseball and the No. 2 pitching prospect. Meanwhile, Hagen Smith is dropping over 60 spots. The double standard is pretty ridiculous.