As expected, the Chicago White Sox selected UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky with the 2026 MLB Draft’s top pick. Cholowsky, who turned 21 in April, hit .329 with 52 home runs, 167 RBIs, and a 1.072 OPS over 178 games at UCLA. He’s the two-time defending Big Ten Player of the Year and reached base at a .448 clip in over 850 plate appearances.
Although the White Sox had also been linked to Texas high school shortstop Grady Emerson and Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey, the South Siders instead went with Cholowsky. He is the third White Sox player selected No. 1, joining catcher Danny Goodwin (1971) and Hall of Fame slugger Harold Baines (1977).
However, assuming that Cholowsky signs with the White Sox, it’ll be some time before we see him in the majors.
When will Roch Cholowsky make his Chicago White Sox debut?
For starters, let’s not put the cart before the horse. Cholowsky could theoretically return to UCLA for his senior season and simply re-enter the draft next year, though that’d be incredibly risky considering he just went No. 1.
For the sake of conversation, let’s say that Cholowsky signs a contract within the coming days. He’d report to one of the White Sox’s minor-league teams and almost certainly spend the rest of this season in the minors.
Granted, we have seen teams call up players within weeks of being drafted. The Blue Jays did it with pitcher Trey Yesavage last September, and he proved instrumental during their run to the World Series. So it’s not impossible that the White Sox could decide to fast-track Cholowsky through the minors and promote him in September.
Frankly, we’d be shocked to see the White Sox bring him up, even as they continue contending for the AL Central crown. Teams love to manipulate service time, and promoting Cholowsky early could hurt Chicago down the road. The probable outcome is that Cholowsky debuts sometime next season, with the White Sox later extending him and buying out his arbitration years.
Perhaps we’ll eventually see MLB teams gamble on having their draftees immediately start in the majors. It’s worked for teams, even the perennially lowly Browns and Jets, in the other major North American sports for decades.
For now, though, Cholowsky should plan on reporting to either the White Sox’s training facility in Arizona or the Single-A club in Kannapolis, NC As for the White Sox, they entered Saturday 58-45 and tied with Cleveland atop the AL Central.
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