The White Sox have an abundance of talent in the infield throughout the organization. On the Major League club, Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas, and Chase Meidroth are among the team’s best players, and Colson Montgomery has flashed a rare combination of power and defense. If you look to the minor leagues, there’s no shortage of talent, including first-overall pick Roch Cholowsky, Caleb Bonemer, Billy Carlson, Cole Prosek, Landon Thome, William Bergolla, Javier Mogollon, and Kyle Lodise, and that’s just within the team’s top 15 prospects. With Bonemer and Cholowsky both slated to make their big league debuts in 2027, the team may need to make adjustments to find spots in the lineup for them. One such adjustment could be coming this week.
Caleb Bonemer, the No. 2 White Sox prospect and No. 30 overall, per @MLBPipeline, will start some games in center field later this week for @BhamBarons. He'll continue that work, along with his infield work, during the Arizona Fall League. Story to come on https://t.co/zD1zshtNwG
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) August 24, 2026
Bonemer, 20, is the White Sox second-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline. A second-round pick in 2024, Bonemer hit the ground running in his MiLB debut season in 2025, and has turned into one of the best power hitters in the minor leagues this season. In 114 games between High-A and Double-A this season, Bonemer has slugged 33 home runs and posted a .937 OPS. He started his minor league career as a shortstop, but has primarily moved to third base this year. Miguel Vargas’ breakout has taken away potential at bats at the hot corner for Bonemer, so the White Sox will now try another way.
Bonemer's background as a shortstop gives him the tools for versatility
Bonemer isn’t the fastest player around. His speed grades at 50 on the 20-80 scale, putting him in the average category. But as a natural shortstop, he’s athletic enough to hold his own anywhere on the field, and plenty of center fielders have played solid defense without being the fastest player on the field. It’s more about reading the ball off the bad and getting a good break than sprint speed. There’s no reason to believe Bonemer can’t hold his own at the position, but we’ll find out more over the next few weeks.
The White Sox have subscribed to the philosophy of drafting shortstops early and often in recent years, and moves like this are exactly why it’s a good idea. If you look at a team like the Padres, nearly every player in their lineup was originally a shortstop. Players with the athleticism for shortstop typically have the ability to play most other positions on the field effectively. Bonemer being able to handle the outfield could truly change the outlook of the White Sox lineup for 2027 and beyond.
The next couple weeks won’t be the determining factor of whether or not Bonemer can handle it. He’ll certainly spend some of the offseason working out in the outfield, and it’s an arrangement we could see frequently next spring. I’d expect the White Sox to try similar moves with some of their other shortstops over the next few years as they look to get all of their top talents into the lineup.
White Sox fans should take this as a positive sign that the team is doing everything they can to get as much talent into their regular lineup as possible.
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