Newest White Sox draft picks skip minor league levels and prep for pro debuts

With the MLB Draft now delayed until the middle of July, the players selected no longer have the option of playing in the Arizona or Florida Complex Leagues once they sign.

Most draftees head to their team's Spring Training sites for workouts and live at-bats in the Arizona/Florida Continuation League or "Bridge League." This is especially true for players drafted out of high school.

While fans may see occasional updates on their prospects from these scrimmages, the statistics from Bridge League games are never recorded.

More often than not, baseball fans must wait until the start of the next season before they can track their favorite team's draft class in affiliated pro ball. But occasionally, some of the more experienced draftees skip a few levels of the minor leagues after signing.

The Chicago White Sox recently assigned four (4) of their 20 draft picks from the 2025 MLB Draft to affiliated minor league rosters. These players are expected to play in their first official minor league games at some point this week.

3 players join Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Four players from the White Sox draft class have been assigned to join Low-A Kannapolis.

SS Colby Shelton (6th round), 3B Anthony DePino (7th round), and OF Ely Brown (12th round) are all college bats and some of the more experienced players in the draft class.

Shelton is an offensive-minded infielder that went 166th overall and was deemed the prospect who would be the "quickest to the big leagues" for Chicago. Three seasons of SEC production from the left side of the plate is enough to keep me closely monitoring Shelton's minor league journey.

DePino is coming off a 20-20 season at Rhode Island in 2025. He was the only player in Division-I college baseball to do that this season. DePino makes a lot of loud contact and has some serious power that the White Sox are hoping to tap into, although he may project better as a first baseman in the future.

Brown started all 60 games for Mercer in centerfield and batted .320 with more walks than strikeouts in 2025.

3rd-round pick Kyle Lodise jumps straight to Winston-Salem

Third-round draft pick and former Georgia Tech infielder Kyle Lodise has gone straight to High-A and joined the Winston-Salem Dash.

Lodise was the 79th ranked draft prospect on MLB.com's big board. He is said to be a "steady right-handed hitter" that "has a reasonably disciplined approach and uses the entire field."

With a 1.095 OPS and 16 home runs in his only season in the ACC, Lodise also brings a strong baseball IQ and good instincts to the ballpark with him every day. Most scouts think his ceiling is a bit lower, but are confident he'll appear in a Major League game at some point in the future.

Based on his aggressive assignment, the White Sox clearly feel Lodise is the most mature player they selected in the 2025 draft.

Lodise and Jeral Perez are going to immediately be a must-see combination of up-the-middle minor league infielders. The Dash also have Samuel Zavala in their daily lineup.